Fox in the Leaf
by Fanreader26
Summary: During an attack, something unexpected happened to the Seal on Naruto and now he has to live with the changes that no one would have expected. Rated M just in case, a bit OOC, may have some bashing, first fic
1. A kit in need

OK well, this idea came to me while I was reading some other Naruto fics and it kept bouncing in my head for a while until I said "why not". Anyway, this is my very first fic and I don't know if it will be any good or go anywhere but meh

Updates will be irregular

Characters might be a bit OOC and there might be some bashing for some characters but we will see as we go on

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

**"Demon/Summon speech"**

**'Demon/Summon thoughts'**

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

**Edit 6/22/2019** fixed up some errors. Added some more dialogue and fixed the flow. For those who read already, hope you enjoy the small changes, for newcomers hope you enjoy in general

And also Disclaimer I don't own Naruto but if I did I would make some alterations to it :)

* * *

Chapter 1: A kit in need

Konoha or The Village Hidden in the leaves, if you were to ask the people that live in this village they would tell you that it is one of the most peaceful, bright. Overall, a nice place to live.

But like anywhere else in the world, there is always a dark side. The problem is that people tend not to see it, ignore it or they are part of it

* * *

Naruto, a boy of eight was on his way home from a walk that he felt like he wanted since there wasn't much else he could do. He usually went for walks through the village when there weren't that many people. This usually meant that he could only go on them when it was extremely early or very late at night. This was the later of the two. He was looking forward to getting home and going to bed since that meant he would meet the only other being that actually cared about him. A massive fox that went by the name: Kurama. He didn't know when he started dreaming about this fox or where he got the idea but he was always happy when he had those dreams. At least he thought they were dreams.

Naruto had actually met the fox when he was only 7 months old when his caretakers at the orphanage left him in his crib for a day and ignoring his cries since he was the only one in the room they left him in. During this time, he unknowingly tapped into Kyuubi's power and slipped into his mindscape.

* * *

_~Flashback~_

_Waking up in his mindscape that was just a dark barren room (1), except for the massive cage with a paper tag with the word "SEAL" written on it attached to the center of the gate._

_Not liking the hard floor Naruto began to cry and it is this crying that woke up the sleeping demon fox. _**_"What is making that annoying sound?!"_** _The booming voice made Naruto stop crying for a second before he started again, much to the fox's annoyance._

_Kurama the Kyuubi no Kitsune lifted his head and turned to look at the other side of the gate and spotted Naruto on the ground crying. Kurama was dumbstruck because he could not believe that his container was this little meatbag…...on the floor…..and was crying nonstop._

**_"This is what I, the great Kyuubi, was sealed into?! This weak crying child! THE INSULT THAT THAT BASTARD YONDAIME GIVES ME! IF HE WASN'T DEAD ALREADY, I WOULD KILL HIM!"_**

_All the yelling was able to quiet the baby but he was now trembling from fear even though he did not know it yet. _**_"Finally decided to stop that annoying racket did you?"_** _Kurama said as he took a closer look at Naruto. He could feel the fear that the baby had but knew it was from his yelling and not from him being a demon. _**_'If I kill him now I could be free from this prison and find that mask-wearing Uchiha and tear him apart!'_** _thought the Kyuubi but he decided not to do this. Despite being a demon, he was not evil, he would not do such a despicable act even if it meant his freedom (2). Seeing the trembling baby the Kyuubi moved one of his nine tails to pick him up and bring him close to get a better look._

_**"Such a tiny little speck."**_ _he said as he looked at Naruto. Naruto himself stopped trembling, stared at the fox's muzzle, and being so close to it, started slapping his nose and giggling. Kurama just stared at the giggling baby and smiled showing his sharp fangs which just gave Naruto something else to slap _**_"no fear or hatred. Just a blank slate and giggles."_** _Kurama stated with a chuckle as he laid his head on his hands/paws as well as lower the tail holding Naruto down next to his head. As he closed his eyes to sleep he could feel Naruto begin to wiggle a bit before stopping and yawned cutely signifying that he was seconds away from sleeping._

_Cracking open his eye he saw that Naruto had fallen asleep on his tail. Knowing that Naruto would soon be leaving the mindscape he himself starting to drift to sleep _**_'_****_he might not be so bad…..if he stayed this small and quiet'_**

_Flashback end_

* * *

That was just the first time Naruto interacted with the fox. Since Naruto had no idea how to enter the mindscape he would randomly just enter without warning but all of them were when he went to sleep in the room at the orphanage. He would fall asleep on his bed and immediately wake up in his mindscape. As he grew he came to love appearing in there and meeting with the fox who he soon began to play with.

After the first two years Kurama grew so fond of the child that he considered Naruto 'His Kit', he even took it upon himself to teach the boy simple things such as speaking. Kurama rather enjoyed the time he spent with Naruto, letting the boy play with his tails, talk about whatever they could, and comfort the boy when he was sad. As he grew closer to the boy, he could not help but regret what his actions had caused to the boy. He wished with everything he had that he wasn't responsible for how Naruto's life was with people chasing him, beating him, tormenting him, and not seeing him as what he truly was, a kind gentle boy looking for someone to acknowledge him.

Naruto for his part started to see the fox as an imaginary father figure since the only time he saw Kurama was when he fell asleep. He would enjoy his time talking to Kurama, playing with Kurama, and having someone close to him but he always thought that it was just his imagination manifesting what he always wanted in the form of his favorite animal.

When Naruto was Four he had told the Sandaime: Hiruzen Sarutobi, about his interactions with the fox, much to the old man's shock. The old man nearly had a heart attack from hearing how that the boy talked to it, even played with the massive demon. After composing himself Hiruzen had told Naruto never to trust anything the fox tells him. This confused the boy who wondered what was the problem with playing with his friend but in his naivete, he nodded his head. Naruto had agreed to what Hiruzen said but since his attention span was very minimal, he forgot about it that night when he was using Kurama's tail as a makeshift slide much to Kurama's amusement. As time went on Naruto grew even more closer to Kurama that it was the highlight of every single day. To go to bed so he could fall asleep to meet up with Kurama. They were so close that even Naruto's first word was an attempted saying of his name "Rama", even if Naruto didn't remember that, Kurama did.

As Naruto thought about meeting Kurmama again, his smile grew even more and he began to run home so he could get there faster.

Unfortunately, Naruto didn't know that he was being followed by someone that had malicious intentions.

Naruto ran as fast as his little feet could take him, whining to himself. "Why did I walk so far~! I should have gone to the playground instead." he was glad that no one was out at this time of night since he wouldn't have to deal with the glares and whispers.

The people may have thought that they were being subtle but this was not the case.

As Naruto ran past an alley, he felt someone grab him by the back of his shirt before he was thrown into the said alley. He impacted the wall hard, causing the world to go blurry and blood to begin dripping down the back of his head. Through blurry vision, he looked up to see that he was surrounded by a group of people. From what he could see some of them were kids older than him and an adult. He shook his head to try and regain his vision but he was suddenly kicked in the head hard enough to cause spots to begin to show

The group of attackers were a group of genin, some looking like they just were made genin, a few older ones, and a Chunin. The Chunin had met up with this group of seven genins and told them that he was going to show teach them how to take own a monster. The younger genin felt some reluctance about going against a "monster but the Chunin had met up with the parents and told them exactly who they were going to be attacking, the parents couldn't say "yes" faster. The parents encouraged the genin that what they were doing was extremely important to the village. It didn't help that the older ones had bullied the blonde at the insistence of their parents and their own misconception of the boy being the reason someone they knew was dead.

One of the younger ones, a boy with brown hair looked at the Chunin "hey, what are you going to teach us?" he asked as the older genin were kicking the downed blonde

The Chunin who was leaning against the wall at the entrance of the alley smirked at the boy "I'm going to teach you how to kill a monster."

This caused some of them to stop for a minute but it didn't last long when they remembered that this was the village monster that their parents and teachers have told them about.

The Chunin pushed off the wall and moved closer to them. "Now did you all bring your kunai and wires?"

The genin nodded their heads at the Chunin's question.

The Chunin smiled almost maliciously as he began. "Good. now the first thing you should do is tie up its arms and legs."

Naruto had heard what the man was telling the genin and he tried to crawl away since the genin were all looking at the man. He wasn't as stealthy as he had hoped since he was struck in the leg by a kunai "aaaahhh!" held his leg as he looked at the back of his leg to see the shuriken sticking out of it.

"Don't think you can get away." the Chunin tried to keep the malice from his voice but a bit of it was noticeable to the blonde. He looked to the genin and motioned his head to the now bleeding boy. "Well, go on. Tie him up!"

Naruto tried to get to his feet and limp away but he found himself falling back to the ground when one of the kids swept his feet from under him. He tried to get away from the laughing older kids but they were stronger than him and he was outnumbered. He soon found himself tied up in sharp ninja wire that was tied too tight as they were cutting into his skin.

"Good now…." he grabbed Naruto by the hair and lift him in the air. He couldn't help himself as he punched the boy in the stomach hard, casing Naruto to cough up a bit of blood. Once that was done, he stabbed a kunai into the wall and hung the boy by the wire that was around Naruto's wrists.

Naruto tried to regain his breath from the punch but it became harder when he felt a rag being shoved into his mouth.

The Chunin finished gagging Naruto before he pulled out another kunai and looked to the genin. "Now before we ghetto the actual lesson, we will be having some target practice."

The genin looked confused at this but listened to their superior.

"Now you are going to learn to hit vital points on a monster but to make things easier for you, I will mark the spots that will make it easier to kill monsters. The first spot is….." he lifted his kunai and stabbed Naruto in the leg "here!" he pulled the kunai out before stabbing the other leg " here!" in the right foot "here!" in his hands "here!" to finish it off he didn't stab the boy. Instead, he ripped off Naruto's shirt and used the bloody kunai to cut a circle with an X in the center just where Naruto's heart was "and here. You must aim for these spots before you can kill a monster."

Naruto's screams of pain were muffled by the rag and he could do nothing but flinch in pain and cry. He felt his world spin as he began to feel nauseous and he began to internally beg for help. 'Hokage-jiji…. Rama-san…..help…..please…..!'

* * *

Kurama snapped his eyes open at the boy's mental pleas for help. Lifting his head up, he began to see through Naruto's immediate thoughts(3) and saw what was happening to his kit at that very moment **"SHIT! WHAT DO YOU SHITTY BRATS THINK YOU'RE DOING! DON'T YOU DARE HURT MY KIT! DAMN IT! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT STUPID MONKEY DOING! WHEN YOU ACTUALLY NEED THAT OLD FOSSIL, HE ISN'T AROUND!"** he screamed as he rammed into the gate over and over again. After a few seconds, he decided to pour his chakra into Naruto hoping to heal the wounds already on the boy's body.

* * *

The kids didn't feel bad for the boy since they were used to beating up the boy and every time they did, they were praised by their parents. It was also not the first time that they had seen Naruto bleed excessively since they have seen some of the adults do things similar to the blonde before.

The Chunin then moved behind the kids as he spoke "ok ready your kunai!"

The kids nodded as they all pulled out their weapons

Naruto tried to wiggle his way out of the binds but the more he struggled the deeper the wires cut into his wrists and ankles.

"Take aim.."

Naruto looked up to see the other kids were ready to throw.

"Fire" the Chunin grinned wickedly at eh hanging boy

Naruto closed his eyes as he saw the kunai fly at him. He grunted in pain when he felt the piercing of his flesh from the metal weapons. He wanted to run, get away from everything, and to hide from the mean people but he couldn't.

After 15 minutes, the kids stopped, as they had run out of kunai and shuriken. They would have picked them up but almost all of them were covered in blood.

Naruto was covered head to toe with cuts, holes, and blood. His breathing was ragged and he could not see from one of his eyes as a shuriken cut it as he tried to avoid it. He was fortunate enough that the genin were not masters at aiming since they missed many times and he was not hit in anything vital.

The Chunin sneered at the fact that the kids missed the vital points but he shrugged his shoulders as he looked at the kids "well you didn't kill it but you made it bleed."

"Now what?"

The Chunin stared at Naruto for a second and smirked "now you go home." he saw that they were about to protest but he brought up his hand "you did well. You wounded a monster a lot so I will inform your senseis about this. They will reward you when they hear this and your parents will be proud of you."

This caused the genin to smile as they all nodded

"Good now head home." he watched as the kids began to leave with a smile that could be considered proud. But the second he knew they weren't anywhere close to him, his smile became malicious. He turned to the still bleeding boy and started yanking the few kunai that were embedded in the boy harshly. "Rotten brats couldn't even kill a tied u target." the man began to beat the hanging boy "come one! Let me hear you scream!" he began to focus his onslaught on the face as he laughed at the pain he knew he was dealing. "Come on! Shout out for help! Let's see if anyone cares!" he knew the boy couldn't since he was still gagged but it was fun to taunt him.

Naruto could only whimper now as he was in too much pain.

Kurama was working overtime in healing the wounds that littered the boy's body and thanks to the man who was still beating the boy, he kept getting more wounds to heal.

After Naruto's face was barely recognizable the Chunin smirked at the bloody mess that used to be a cheerful boy. "You know, those brats may have made you bleed but looks like I get the honor of killing you fro what you did eight years ago." he channeled chakra into the kunai and stabbed it into the boy's stomach with the intention of causing the boy to bleed out. "With this, you will die slowly and suffer a small fraction of the pain you caused."

Although this was said, the Chunin had no noble intentions with his action. His whole plan was to have the kids beat the Kyuubi brat until he was either an inch from dying or actually died. If the boy was an inch from death, he would finish the boy off and if he died, it didn't matter. Once either was done he would take the credit for it and be hailed as a hero. And with the tip he received from an anonymous source, he knew that it was the best chance to do it.

What he didn't realize was that the chakra in the kunai caused a disruption in the flow of the Kyuubi's chakra, causing the healing to slow down immensely.

Naruto winced in pain from the kunai now in his stomach as he slowly tried to open his right eye, since it was only swollen and not cut. Although it was extremely blurry and filled with black spots. He cried at the pain he was feeling and couldn't think much of anything anymore since all his attention was on the pain

The Chunin noticed the open eye and sneered at him "oh? Still alive huh?" He smiled as he noticed the ragged breathing and the fountain of blood coming out of the boy's gut. He knew that the boy was not going to live through the amount of fatal wounds the boy had. He grabbed the boy by the hair again, pulled him off the wall, and swung him against the opposite wall again and again. "Leaving you here would just leave a mess that no one is going to clean up. So you know what?" he brought him to eye level again "I'm leaving your filthy corpse in that shitty apartment so you can rot." The Chunin then **shunshined**away to Naruto's apartment.

* * *

~Outside of Naruto's Apartment~

Once he arrived at the rundown apartment complex, the Chunin moved to a window that he saw led inside. He then tossed Naruto through it, shattering the window and embedding some glass into the boy's back. "You can die there on the floor, but who knows, maybe someone will check up on you and save your life…..though who would ever want to check up on you?" he said knowing that no one even lived in the complex anymore since everyone moved out when Naruto was given the apartment by the Sandaime. The man left laughing, ready to celebrate the "death of the demon" with his friend.

Naruto lay there on his side with the kunai still in his stomach staring blankly at the wall as the tears and blood continued to stream down his face. He began to lose the color in his face as he began to feel cold. His eyes were slowly losing the light in them, becoming dull and lifeless. He barely even registered the voice in his head

**"Kit?!...answer me kit! Come on kit hold on! Don't you dare give up! You said you would become the Hokage for this stupid village!" **Kurama screamed as he kept banging on the cage and released his chakra **'Why isn't my chakra healing him!?'** Kurama thought to himself, **"How can you become Hokage if you give up and die here!?"** Kurama screamed as he was slamming himself even harder into the gate pushing as much chakra into Naruto trying to heal him and with a few tears dampening his fur under his eyes. What Naruto said next was something that shocked him because he hasn't been called this until now.

"Kur...ama….tou….cha…." Naruto said with a smile as the light left his eyes

**"NARUTOOOOOOO!"**

* * *

End of chapter

**8/7/2020**

For those who are newcomers: welcome to my first FIC. For those who are rereading this, yes I have changed the attack from a mob attack to a group of genin led by a Chunin. As I said in the latest chapter: chapter 54, I was planning on rewriting this chapter for a while. And now I did it. I hope that this is more appealing than a mob attack and I get less hate for how this fic started when most of the appeal is later in the fic

Rewrites of further chapters will be done but only for the first arc of this fic since most people complained about it. Some will not be rewritten since it won't really affect the changes. So there will be some inconsistencies in a few chapters ahead but it will be fixed soon.

For newcomers this will be a retelling of the story but in my own way. This might deter some of you from reading but give it a try. You never know, you might like it, you might hate it. But regardless I have written it so it will stay. Any flames will be properly ignored, criticism will be cataloged and taken into account, and positive reviews will be appreciated

1) With Naruto only being a baby his mind hasn't had time to be molded completely yet, which is why his mindscape is a barren room with no hallway instead of a sewer but it becomes a sewer a few years later when his mind is slightly more developed

2) I feel like Kurama wouldn't know that the seal would kill him if he kills Naruto and would find out later, even if he would reform, and I feel like he only attacked Naruto during the sealing out of anger and desperation at least for my story that's how I'm setting it up

3) I felt like making it where Kurama doesn't have immediate access to Naruto's senses but has some access to his memories so Kurama can see what Naruto sees from his very most recent memory which puts a few second delay for him

Please Read, Favorite, Follow, and Review


	2. Unexpected find

Well here is chapter 2 yay

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

_flashback/memory_

~locations~

**Edit notice**: removed much of Hinata's stuttering, some grammatical errors, and fixed the structure to match with later format

Disclaimer I don't own Naruto

* * *

Chapter 2:Unexpected find

Hiruzen was having a very bad week, not only was he swamped with meetings with the council, who kept calling him for every little detail between land disputes and financial discussions to what they should have for dinner, the KI (killing intent) he was releasing, after that one was so strong that even the shinobi and the Anbu present were having a hard time staying conscious, the civilians didn't last long. He was also riddled with piles of the bane of all Kages: Paperwork, so much of it that he hasn't had time to even read his favorite little orange book.

He wanted to incinerate the piles just to be done with it but his sense of responsibility stayed his hand from performing a Katon jutsu, well that and an Anbu with long purple hair wearing a cat mask stopped him from finishing the handsigns. He did get some sense of satisfaction when he did burn one document and after the small lecture that he got from Neko about not destroy an important document he pulled out an exact copy of the document from the pile of finished and sign work. The mountains of paperwork turned out to be multiple copies of the same new pieces of work that was given to him and he couldn't destroy them because he wouldn't be 100 % sure if there wasn't anything really important in the pile so he had to do it the old fashioned way by going through each one, one at a time.

"I swear, these fools can't do anything other than annoy me with these useless requests. I'm getting too old for this and I need to find a replacement for this, maybe then I can finally get to read without any problems". Hiruzen mumbled to himself as he continued to stamp another document

He paused for only a moment when he heard a knock from the door, looking up he saw it was Inu. Inu was one of his high ranking Anbu easily recognized with his white gravity-defying hair (he is always described this way, pretty good in my opinion) "Ah Inu, what can I do for you?"

Kakashi walked until he was a few feet away "Yes Hokage-Sama, I have returned from my mission and I am ready to give my report on it."

when that was heard, the Sandaime was shocked because he didn't assign Inu to any mission "Kakashi" he said ignoring Anbu protocol "what was this mission and when did you leave for it?"

Kakashi looked at the Hokage confused but it was not visible with the dog mask he was wearing "I left for the mission eight days ago and it was a reconnaissance mission in the Haran bay to make sure that Kumogakure wasn't planning anything against Konoha, though it seemed that everything was quiet and no action was being taken to insinuate such a thing" Kakashi said giving his report to the now stunned Hokage.

This was a mission that the Hokage planned on having an infiltration team take but was holding off on it since he didn't want to stress the relations between the villages even more so since it was on thin ice as it was since the attempted kidnapping of the Hyuga Heiress Hinata Hyuga.

"Kakashi, that mission was put on hold and was not meant to be taken, are you sure that I gave you this mission?"

Kakashi nodded to the Hokage's question and pulled out the mission scroll that had his signature and stamp of approval.

The gears were turning in the old man's head, he had no recollection of assigning this mission to Kakashi since at this time he was supposed to be on guard duty for Naruto to keep him safe from any of the villagers that might harm the boy during the festival which happened to be his birthday as well, and that was three days ago. Jumping from his seat and tossing the scroll away, Hiruzen went to his Crystal Ball to see if he can find Naruto.

Kakashi startled by this and seeing the look of dread on the Hokage's face went to ask the Hokage "Sir, what's the matter?"

Hiruzen with a worried look tried to locate Naruto by tracking his chakra signature but was having difficulty finding it "I've been in meetings nonstop this whole week and you were sent out on a mission for that time as well and I don't find it just coincidence that this happened the very week that the festival was happening. You know how the villagers get during that day!" Hiruzen said while switching to the view of the ball to just see inside his apartment but still finding no trace of the boy.

Kakashi, realizing what was going on urgently asked the question "Hokage-sama, please tell me. Where is Naruto-Kun?"

Hiruzen looking at the one-eyed Anbu said "I don't know…..I can't find his chakra signature"

With a snap of his fingers two more Anbu, Neko and Tenzo, appeared in from of the Hokage "you three are to search the village for Naruto-Kun, start with the usual places he can be found, Inu I want you to use your summons to track him" a resounding "HAI" was heard from the three as the disappeared from the office.

As he went back to take a seat in his chair one thought kept going through his head "Please! Let the boy be alright"

* * *

The Anbu searched the entire village looking for the boy from rooftops, street level and businesses they knew he frequented but found nothing.

Inu checked Ichiraku ramen, asking Teuchi and Ayame if they had seen the boy but got two worried "no" from the pair now even more worried for their favorite customer.

Neko looked around the Hokage monument and found no evidence of him being there recently.

Tenzo was jumping from rooftop to rooftop looking down on the streets of Konoha but found no trace of blonde hair.

They spent the rest of the day searching but no luck

* * *

~The next day~

Iruka was frustrated. He was on his way to Naruto's apartment to check on the boy since he hasn't been in class for the last few days. He was accompanied by the shy Hyuga heiress Hinata who was insistent on coming "You know you didn't have to join me on this visit Hinata-san"

Hinata, looking up and her sensei answered in a meek stutter " I-I w-wanted to make sure that N-Naruto-kun was alright".

Iruka just accepted that and kept going, wanting to get this over with. He knew about Naruto and what he held within and although he didn't really hate the boy he didn't like him either, he felt more indifferent to the kid but deep down he did blame Naruto for his parent's death. He knew it was wrong of him to do so but he couldn't help it. It was also that he didn't really interact with the boy much since he wouldn't be his teacher for another two years but he was the only one that willingly went to Naruto's home.

They kept walking until they came upon the apartment complex that was Naruto's home and what they saw shocked them both

The complex looked like it was a condemned building ready to be demolished, with graffiti with the words "Die Demon!" and "Go back to the Hell!". Support pillars that looked like it was roughly patched with wooden boards, handrails that were half gone, paint that long since peeled off and broken windows that were sealed with cardboard. "This can't be the place. Can it?" said Iruka as he pulled out a piece of paper with the address on it just to find that this was indeed the right address

Hinata was stunned, wondering how someone could live in this building, since she was so used to living in the Hyuga compound "Hinata are you coming?" Iruka said as he was carefully walking up the extremely worn out stairs. Hinata ran a bit to catch up with her sensei as he was halfway up the stair "Careful with the fourth, fifth and sixth step, they are really close to breaking" They finally got to the top of the stairs and headed to Naruto's door.

Knocking on the door Iruka called "Hey Naruto! Are you in there?" Iruka could hear some sound coming from the apartment but it was really quiet "Hey Naruto, come out we need to talk about why you haven't been in class!" as he was screaming at the door, Hinata was standing back a bit looking at her sensei. Neither of them noticed that Inu was watching them from across the street but what caught Inu's attention was that Iruka seemed so sure that Naruto was in there but when he was looking for the boy Pakun could barely smell any of his scent in the apartment which meant that it was only a residual scent so he wasn't in there, but if the academy sensei was sure then he had to make sure so he kept watching at a distance.

Iruka becoming frustrated, tried the doorknob and was shocked to see that it was unlocked. Pushing the door open, he and Hinata went inside and they were shocked once more because of the mess of the small dining room they walked into with a fridge directly to their left and a small dining table that didn't leave much room between it and the wall, a stove on the opposite side of the room adjacent to the broken window that was parallel to the door. Hearing sound from the door to their right they both went towards it, having to go through a door frame that has a very short white flap to come upon a very small bathroom with a small tub and next to the tub was a door that led to the toilet, but ignoring that door and walking to the ajar door that leads to Naruto's bedroom. While opening the door they saw something scurry from the door that led to the balcony which was on the opposite wall, to under the bed which was directly to their left but they couldn't see what it as very well since the lights were off and the window was covered with cardboard as an attempt to keep it sealed.

Thinking Naruto was just fooling around with them, Iruka decided to end this game with his **Big head Jutsu** "NARUTO! GET OUT FROM UNDER THERE AND STOP ACTING LIKE A FOOL!" he yelled as his head grew four times its size.

After the scream, they heard a yelp from the bed as something came out from under the bed and went to the other side of the room and huddled into the corner.

Hitting the lightswitch what they saw was not what they were expecting, what they saw was a small fox kit (think Kurama when he was younger but only slightly bigger than puppy Akamaru) shivering in fear, eyes closed and tail wrapped around itself. Iruka and Hinata stood there dumbfounded until Hinata decided to get closer to the fox kit "i-its ok, we won't hurt you…" she said as she reached out to touch the fox but it flinched a bit when her hand touched its head but as she started to pet its head it began to open its eyes and look at the Hyuga girl. Hinata seeing it open its eyes smiled warmly at it and saw that it stopped shivering so much but was still somewhat afraid.

Iruka just stood there at the door wondering when Naruto got a pet fox and why he got it since foxes were hated in the village ever since the Kyuubi attack but it didn't concern him so much. But as he saw Hinata pick up the fox he saw something that made his heart stop, 'the fox…...it had two tails!'

As that was going through Iruka's head Hinata was staring at the fox's eyes. Still looking slit like a fox's eyes but the color is what grabbed her attention, they were azure blue just like Naruto's "your eyes are just like Naruto-Kun's eyes"

That statement did it for Iruka "HINATA GET AWAY FROM THAT THING!" he said as he pulled out a kunai with one hand and pulled the girl back with the other forcing her to drop the fox.

That sudden action caused the fox to run in between their legs and out the front door leaving them behind.

* * *

~meanwhile across the street on a building rooftop~

Inu was confused as he heard Iruka yelling inside the apartment but from he heard he assumed that Naruto was inside doing something to annoy the academy sensei but he was relieved to know that the kid was fine and not harmed for now….until Iruka would begin lecturing him for skipping class.

Turning to leave to tell the Hokage that he found Naruto he stopped when he heard Iruka scream "HINATA GET AWAY FROM THAT THING!"

He turned back to the apartment just in time to see a small orange animal run out the door and heading down the stairs. Looking closely he saw it was a fox but his eye widened when he saw it had two tails. Seeing that it as running to an alley right underneath him he decided to cut it off before the alley exit, jumping down startling the fox he pulled out a kunai ready to strike when needed.

* * *

Startled by the newcomers the fox turned around only to stop when it saw the other man coming up as well. Blocked from both ends, it didn't know what to do and went to the side of the alley to, clawing at the wall in an attempt to get away but it wasn't working, giving up on that it just hid in some newspaper that was thrown away.

* * *

Inu began pulsing his chakra in a certain pattern to signal his fellow Anbu and waited for them to arrive. Seven seconds later an Anbu squad appeared at both his sides and pulled out their weapons prepared to attack whatever Inu was facing but everyone was stopped when Hinata ran passed their legs and spread out her arms in a protective manner "W-what a-are you doing to the p-poor thing?!"

"Move aside Hyuga-Sama, we don't want to hurt you," said one of the Anbu, though he didn't know what they were facing he knew it wasn't the Hyuga girl

"Put your weapons down, immediately!" said an aged voice from behind the Anbu. turning around they saw it was the Hokage "what is the meaning of this Inu! Why have you called for your Anbu squad?"

"Sir it seems tha-" he was stopped when he heard a whine coming from behind them, turning they saw that the Hyuga girl had walked to the hidden fox, removed the newspaper, picked it up, cradling it as best she could and the fox was shivering excessively with all eyes on it.

Hiruzen seeing the fox, widened his eyes when he saw the two tails. He would have signaled the Anbu to try and get the fox away from the girl but he stopped himself when the fox started to calm down a bit as it looked into the old man's eyes and he couldn't help but have a flashback of a young boy with the same color eyes looking at him. "Anbu hold your position" he said as he walked up to the fox and girl keeping an eye on the fox. He noticed that as he kept walking the fox started to relax a bit but looked at the old man with confusion in its eyes. Finally reaching the Hyuga girl and fox, he knelt down to them and looked into the fox's eyes "Anbu stand down" he said in a soft voice

"But Sir!..." one of the Anbu said in urgency

"It's alright….Inu go get Hiashi Hyuga and tell him to meet me in my office as soon as he can"

Inu left, obeying his Hokage, as Hiruzen placed a hand on the girls "ok Hyuga-chan, we need to go to my office and have a small talk about what happened"

"H-hai Hokage-Sama," she said as she clutched the fox a bit tighter

With a small smile, he **Shunshined** away in a swirl of leaves and the Anbu left, going back to their duties.

Iruka now left alone looked towards the apartment building behind him and couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the kid and feel pity thinking that he was taken over by the Kyuubi.

* * *

Well, that is the end of this Chapter so can you guess what happened…. Can you? ….can you?

Well if you can't then you are going to have to wait for the next chapter which should show what happened to Naruto but not how

And for Naruto's apartment I looked up a blueprint of his place and I hope I described it well enough to give you a picture of it

Anyway I was thinking on if I should make a pairing and if so should it be single or Harem but I'm not 100% sure if I will so if you want a pairing, let me know who and I might come up with it

**Update notice 11/12:** went through this and made some fixes

By the way, Read and Review and please give me some constructive advice to help me improve flames will do nothing but waste your own time


	3. Friendly discussion

Well in this chapter you are going to get some info on what happened to Naruto

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu Name**

_flashback/memory_

~locations~

Edit notice: fixed structure

Disclaimer I don't own Naruto

* * *

Chapter 3: Friendly discussion

Everyone in the Hokage office were both tense and befuddled. Here was the Kyuubi (in their eyes) on the Hokage's desk tapping on the Hokage's hat that Hiruzen put down, with its paw like it was trying to figure it out. Around the room were an Anbu squad all with either kunai in their hands or ready to pull out their tantos and katanas.

Hiashi, who was called to pick up Hinata stood in front of her in a protective manner unsure of what to do, until he decided that it was time to leave before something happened "Hokage-sama, if you would permit, I believe it's time for me and my daughter to be on our way".

Hiruzen taking his eyes off the fox looked towards Hiashi "very well Hiashi-san you may go about your business...BUT!" turning serious, the Hokage stood from his chair and looked the Head of the Hyuga clan "You are to remain silent about this situation, should the people find out about this, there would be mass panic throughout the village...do you understand me?"

Hiashi in understanding bowed to the village leader "understood Hokage-Sama, and I will make sure that Hinata understands as well" with that Hinata bowed as well and they both left the office.

Sitting back don in his chair he looked at the fox once more couldn't help but chuckle as the fox was able to get underneath the hat and looked at the old man, and for a second he saw it again. A little blonde boy, wearing the hat looking at him with the same colored eyes saying "I'm going to be the best Hokage ever DATTEBAYO!" with the thought in his head he decided to take a "leap of faith", "Naruto-Kun? is it still you?" the fox just tilted its head not understanding what the human said but wagged its tail a bit. Depressed in realizing that the fox didn't know what he said another thought came to mind when he saw the slightly wagging tail. Pressing the button on the intercom on his desk he called his secretary

"_yes Hokage-sama how may I help you?"_ a female voice was heard over the intercom

"Yes, please send for Inoichi Yamanaka for me please and tell him to come to my office and that it is urgent"

"_yes, sir!"_

One of the Anbu not getting what the Hokage was planning decided to ask "Sir, why do you want Yamanaka-sama to come here?".

Pulling out his pipe and lighting it with a small bit of fire Jutsu he turned his chair sideways and turned his to look out onto the village "I'm taking a major leap of faith in possibly getting Naruto-kun back."

* * *

~30 minutes later~

Inoichi walked into the Hokage office "Hokage-Sama what can I d….." he halted in his greeting when his eyes landed on the fox sleeping on the desk and its 2 tails twitching as it sleeps

"ah Inoichi-san, I'm glad that you got here so soon, I have a task that only you would be able to accomplish," the Hokage said as he looked at the Yamanaka jonin

Knocked out of his stupor Inoichi asks "what would that task be Hokage-sama?" while still eyeing the fox a bit

"I would like you to dive into the mind of this little fox you see before you," he said as if it was a normal request

Thinking this to be a joke Inoichi couldn't help but chuckle a bit "Sir, you must be joking, to ask me to use my clans jutsu to enter the mind of this….two….tailed fox" pausing for a second and a thought finally clicking in his head, he looks at the Hokage "Sir is that the Kyuubi?"

Hiruzen hearing this gets up and does a few hand signs and places his hand on the wall, sealing the room in a privacy seal. "What I am asking you to do is see if you can find Naruto in there and if possible bring him out"

"but Hokage-sama it's much too dangerous to do something like that! You don't even know if he is in there! His mind could have been taken over by the Kyuubi". Inoichi told the old man thinking this was a horrible idea.

understanding where Inoichi was coming from but still holding on to hope he responded "I understand your fears but I believe he is still in there, may be suppressed, but still in there"

About to protest but seeing the serious look on the Hokage's face he relented, he chose to obey his leader but he would pull out if anything goes wrong. Grabbing a chair in front of the desk he put his hands in the Jutsu hand sign.

"Before you go in, if you see any sign of the Kyuubi or if the boy is truly lost to it you are to leave his mind immediately".

Now he was nervous if he had the Hokage confirming his escape plan. Steeling his nerves he decided to get this over with, so he started "Ok here we go**, Mind transfer Jutsu!**". After the jutsu's success, his body slumped and everyone kept an eye on the 2 to make sure nothing bad happens

Taking a puff from his pipe Hiruzen couldn't help but pray "I hope you succeed Inoichi"

* * *

~inside the fox's mind~

Inoichi found himself surrounded by nothing but darkness "This can't be right. Any mind whether animal, human or summon should have some sort of build to it but this mind seems like it has nothing in it at all, no memories, no personality….nothing"

He began to walk in a random direction to see if he can find anything in this mind. For 8 minutes he walked until he found himself falling. He didn't worry so much since he is skilled in mind walking but it was a bit shocking to find himself falling in utter darkness.

When he finally hit the ground, he was now surrounded by a sewer-like area, dark dirty yellow walls that had big cracks in them and debris all over the ground. With a loud groan he picked himself up and found that he was slightly wet, looking down he saw that the floor had some small puddles and wet concrete (1). Dusting himself he heard some noises coming from deeper within the tunnels and began walking towards it.

He began to get a clearer sound of what it was "that sounds like….canine yipping…?" he came upon a massive room and spotted the tiny fox playing with its tails close to an unlit area "is that him?". Walking closer to the fox who stopped playing when he noticed the human and began backing away.

The fox took a step back as Inoichi took a step forward slowly, on the 3rd step the fox turned around and ran into the darkness "wait!". Inoichi ran after the fox until he was a few steps in the darkness and he froze in fear when a pair of massive red eyes opened from within said darkness and stared at the shinobi. He was so lost in fear that he didn't have time to react to a massive clawed hand snatched him up and lifted him off the ground.

"**What do you think you're doing here Ningen!? Have you come here to hurt my kit even more than those insects you call 'villagers'?!". **

Inoichi couldn't speak, he had seen the Kyuubi from a distance during the attack but he never thought he would ever be this close to it. For an extremely tense 10 seconds, neither said anything until a whine was heard and Inoichi looked to the top of the Kyuubi's head and saw the little fox and then something clicked in his mind. He originally thought the little fox WAS the Kyuubi but if the one squeezing the life out of him was the Kyuubi then the little one must be "Naruto?".

Hearing the Ningen, Kurama began to squeeze harder thinking he should destroy the Ningen's mind as a message to any who did harm to his kit but paused his action when he heard the Ningen wheeze out a question "What did you do to him!?".

Looking at the man Kurama paused his angry action enough to sense if there was any malicious intent coming from him, detecting none he decided to answer "**it was an unexpected side effect in pouring all of my chakra into his body to save his life from all his injuries and the kunai in his stomach**"

Feeling a bit of his breath returning and shocked at the new piece of information Inoichi decided to get as much information about the situation as possible "What do you mean by kunai in his stomach, did he try to end his own life or was it an accident?...GAH".

Kurama feeling his anger rise from this assumption squeezed much harder than before "**IT WAS NO ACCIDENT! sOME OF YOUR YOUNGER SHINOBI AND ONE OF YOUR CHUNIN THAT CAUSED SO MUCH PAIN TO HIM AND IF I WERE ABLE TO I WOULD FIND THEM AND TEAR THEM APART BUT KEEP THEM ALIVE SO THEY COULD FEEL EVERY BIT OF MY FURY!**". Kurama screamed, releasing a good amount of KI but stopped when he heard a small whine on the top of his head. Calming himself down, he released a calming breath and put the Ningen down and using his tail he picked Naruto up from his head and moved his tail the be directly in front of him on the ground so the kit could sleep on his tail. After the kit snuggled a bit in Kurama's tail he was fast asleep.

Inoichi still wary of the Kyuubi but a little calmer finally noticed something about the fox. The Kyuubi looked like it had been starved and dehydrated for a long period of time, having its bone structure somewhat visible (think of when Naruto pulled out the Kyuubi's chakra in Shippuden). Another thing that shocked him was the fact that the fox only had 1 tail "What happened to you?" he involuntarily asked.

Still not feeling any ill intent, he looked down at his sleeping kit, Kurama decided to answer his question "**I used almost all of my power to save him, leaving me with an extremely small amount left for myself but I shall regain my power over time**" he said with a sigh "**but I worry about the kit, this whole thing never should have happened to him and I'm afraid of what will happen now that he is like this**"

Inoichi could understand what the fox was going through as the look that it was giving was the look of a very worried father and he knew it because he gave it several times with his daughter Ino. Deciding to continue and have a bit of trust in the demon fox he began "May I ask you a few questions Kyuubi?".

Tearing his sight from the sleeping kit Kurama looked at the ninja and nodded for him to continue

"What happened to Naruto?….as in….he seemed to not recognize anyone or anything, not even the Hokage who we all know he views as a grandfather?"

"**I have sealed away all his memories so he wouldn't deal with the incident that caused this," **he said as he gently nuzzled the kit.

That got the ninja's attention 'impossible! The only way that he could do that is if he had full access to Naruto's mind but he shouldn't have that since he is sealed!'. He then looked around and noticed the cage doors off their hinges, broken laying against the walls, with the seal tag underneath one of them. "How did you break out of the seal? The Yondaime's seal seemed impossible to break"

Looking at the Ningen he spoke "**I was released from the seal just as his mind was falling apart" **feeling tired from all the talking he decided that the conversation must end soon "**I will be going into a pseudo hibernation soon, so to help you understand what happened I will be giving you the memory of what happened to my kit and how I was released".** Lifting a claw and moving it to Inoichi, slowly as to not startle him, he used his claw to remove the headband and placed the tip of the claw on the Ningen's forehead and a flash of memories flowed into the Ningen's head.

To a normal person, even a ninja, having memories implanted into your head would disorient them or knock them out. But the Yamanaka are ninja's of the mind so Inoichi handled it pretty well. What he couldn't handle was the action done against the once boy now fox kit by genin not much older than the once blonde and a Chunin, supposed future assets to the shinobi forces and someone that is meant to protect the citizens, including the young. The boy was the same age as his daughter and no child should go through any of that. To say that he was furious was an understatement, he made sure to memorize all the faces that Naruto got a look at and the Chunin that killed the boy. Yes "killed". Naruto had died that night and was brought back thanks to the Kyuubi.

Now with almost everything resolved Inoichi was preparing to leave but had one final thing that needed to be resolved "will you return Naruto's memories to him? As that was what I originally came here to do".

Thinking about it for a moment Kurama decided he would "**I will return most of his memories but I shall slowly give back a few of his more traumatic memories and the memory of the incident, for his own benefit. My kit should not be hindered by them anymore. He might have a slight change in his personality such as being a bit more mischievous but other than that he should be the same Naruto we all know. Also, do not tell your Hokage about me, and don't tell Naruto that I am real yet."**

Now Inoichi was confused by that statement since it seemed that they already met but before he could ask, Kurama answered

"**The old monkey doesn't and will not ever trust me so its best to say that you got these memories from the kits mind and tell him an altered version of how this happened for if he knew he would do everything in his power to keep me from my kit and as for Naruto; for the many years that he has known me, his child-like mind has come up with the idea that I am a figment of his imagination brought up in his dreams since he has only ever interacted with me as he sleeps and I don't want to burden him with the truth just yet. I will wait until he is a little older. I just hope that when he learns the whole truth he will forgive me"** he said as he gave a small little lick at the still sleeping kit and chuckled as the kit just snuggled deeper into his tail. "**I am asking you this as a father who wants what's best for their child and I believe this way of doing things would be best"**

Inoichi didn't like the idea of keeping secrets from the Hokage but reluctantly agreed to this and chose now to leave the boy's mind. After giving another secret request only meant for Inoichi he watched the Ningen leave. Sighing Kurama leaned his head down closing his eyes and went to sleep with one final thought entering his '**I'm sorry Naruto I hope to see you soon when I wake up and that you will forgive me'**

* * *

~Back in the Hokage's office~

40 minutes had passed since Inoichi jumped into the fox kit's mind and the only reaction that he gave were a few grunts of pain and an angry scowl that appear on his face. "Hokage-Sama should it normally take this long for Inoichi-san to retrieve memories," asked Inu.

Hiruzen already finished with his first set of tobacco simply sighed "No Inu. normally he is able to retrieve the memory he is looking for within a few minutes if he knows what he's looking for, if not than 10 to 15 but with the amount of time he has been in there I worry he might have come across a problem"

At that moment Inoichi bolted awake shocking everyone in the room as he took several breaths of air and regained his bearings. After a minute he looked at Hiruzen and decide to give his report on the memory retrieval "Hokage-Sama, Mission accomplished with a bit more than I thought I would get"

Hiruzen looked at Inoichi with a serious look and began "Very well Inoichi-san, begin your report about what happened in there"

* * *

And there is chapter 3 of Fox in the Leaf.

Hiruzen will learn some of what happened to Naruto and I might put the punishment in the next few chapters so look forward to it. Also just to clarify something I feel needs to be brought up. For Kurama's shows of affection to Naruto, I wanted it to have a more animalistic aspect to it which is why he does the gestures he does towards Naruto. It was slightly weird to write but I think it works

Hint: Also keep in mind the secret request bit as Inoichi leaves cause that will come back soon

1) I know that in canon his mindscape has ankle-deep water but after what happened I feel like the water would have disappeared a bit since his mind is at the moment in shambles

**update notice 11/12:** fixed some errors and cleaned it up a bit

**8/7/20**: just a small change in some words

Please Read, Favorite, Follow, and review


	4. Sealed secret

Ok readers just to let you know this chapter is mostly a flashback that explains the events that caused Naruto to be this way

And also I will be switching between calling the nine tails "Kyuubi" and "Kurama". This is intentional as it is somewhat of a hint on the change of a perspective since the ninja don't know Kurama's name, if you want me to stick to just one please let me know

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

**"Demon/Summon speech"**

**'Demon/Summon thoughts'**

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer I don't own Naruto

* * *

Chapter 4: Sealed secret

"So let me see if I have everything in order…." Hiruzen said as he recounted what he had just heard from the Yamanaka Clan head "You found Naruto deep within his subconscious hiding in fear but not sure of what was going on around him, which is why he didn't recognize us in this…..new form." he said pointing at the fox sleeping on the desk "and you were able to bring him out of this as well as see what happened to him" he finished looking at Inoichi

"Yes Hokage-Sama, it was shocking to find out what the boy had gone through"

Hiruzen nodded his head as he thought about what he was told "and you said that you saw the Kyuubi still sealed and weakened?"

"Yes sir" Inoichi had told the Hokage that the Kyuubi was still sealed behind the bars with the seal tag still in place and that the reason for the change was a shortened altered version of the truth: being that the fox force healed Naruto to save its own life because if Naruto dies the Kyuubi would die as well, even if it would take some years before it would reform in the world and this was an "interesting side effect" as the demon proclaimed. But the truth was more complicated than that

* * *

_~Flashback - memory transfer~_

_"Kur...ama….tou….cha…."_

**_"NAARRRUUUTTTOOOO!"_**

_Kurama kept ramming the bars trying everything in his power to save his kit._

_As the mind began to crumble and fall apart, with chunks of the ceiling falling to the ground and huge cracks showing up on the walls, he was becoming desperate and even begging for some sort of miracle. But it was the fading of both the walls and ceiling turning into nothing but a black abyss that finally made him stop in despair _**_"_****_...no…_****_"_**_ he softly said as he leaned his head against the cage _**_"_****_all my power and I can't even save him…_****_"_**_ so lost in his thoughts he didn't notice a figure appear in the center of the crumbling room holding the still form of Naruto_

_"...Kyuubi…"_

_Hearing this Kurama lifted his head from the cage doors and saw someone he never thought he would see again _**_"_****_Minato!?_****_"_**_ he screamed in anger but stopped. Looking at the still form of Naruto in the Yondaime's arms, he took a deep breath before he asked in a subdued tone _**_"can you save him?"_**

_Minato surprised by the tone the Kyuubi was giving looked down at his son, and with a few tears rolling down his face he begrudgingly answered "...I can't"._

_This was something that Kurama didn't want to hear _**_"_****_WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'YOU CAN'T'?! THIS IS YOUR SON AND YOU CAN'T EVEN USE ANY KIND OF JUTSU TO SAve….him….._****_"_**_ Kurama's ranting slowly died when a thought came to mind. It was a risky move since he wasn't sure about what would happen but if there was a chance it would work, he would take it. "Can you release me from this cage?" he asked quickly because for his idea to work, he needed to do it fast._

_Minato looked up at the fox with a critical eye "Why would you ask me to release you when you know I don't trust you? For all I know, you would just finish what you started before and destroy Konoha."_

_Kurama slammed his fist against the bars as his panic and anger drove him to continue _**_"FOOL I WANT TO SAVE MY KIT FROM DEATH AND I CAN'T DO IT WITH ALL MY POWER STILL HELD BACK BY THIS SEAL!"_**

_Minato looked at the Kyuubi with a calculating gaze, it was just so unexpected and what happened next just made him even more confused, the Kyuubi bowed before him and begged_

**_"please. I'm begging you to let me save my kit. If you don't hurry we could lose him forever and he doesn't deserve to die like this._****_" _**_the mindscape was already half gone and the remaining ceiling was already dropping concrete pieces around them. Kurama, still in the position, was hoping that Minato would do it. And to his shock, he heard a rip of paper and metallic clanks right afterward. Lifting his head he saw that Naruto was placed on the floor in the center of the room and Minato opening the gates_

_"try anything funny and I will immediately seal you in again, I may be just a Chakra construct but I still have the power to reseal you!" Minato said in all seriousness. _

_Kurama, ignoring the threat quickly opened the gates, moved to Naruto, wrapped him in his tails, and pushed all of his Chakra into the boy._

* * *

_~Real world, on the floor of Naruto's apartment~_

_Naruto's body still lay there with no light in his eyes, no movement of breath it just lay there...lifeless. However, the seal that was on his stomach began to glow and increase in size. The kunai that was still in the boy's stomach, acted as a sort of block for the chakra, keeping it all from leaking out much which kept it from being sensed from any sensor in the village. The seal continued to increase in size until it covered the whole body in a glowing light._

_Kurama kept pushing his chakra into the boy and was able to stop the deterioration of the mind but it wasn't enough to bring him back _**_"_****_damn it! it's not working!"_** _he kept trying to bring his kit back but knew that his lack of success was from only being half of himself._** "****_If I had even a sliver of my Yin chakra, I would be able to save him!"_** _Kurama said thinking of how Minato split him in two and sealed the Yin half into himself before he sealed him(Yang Kurama) into Naruto. As he thought of his Yin side, he felt a trickle of it really close to him. Looking around, his eyes landed on the Minato Chakra construct, who decide to stand aside and watch as he tried to save the boy. Looking down to think for a second, Kurama thought of a possible solution before looking at Minato _**_"_****_Minato, I need your help in saving him."_**

_Minato looking at the Kyuubi questionably he was about to ask but was answered before he could _

**_"I believe you have a bit of my other chakra half, not a lot, but enough to save Naruto. My guess is that when you sealed my Yin half in yourself and then made the eight trigram seal, a bit of it was mixed into the chakra construct since it was made from the real yondaime's chakra. What I need you to do is place your hand where Naruto is and I can divert it into the boy."_**

_Unsure Minato asked, "what will this do to him?"._

_Kyuubi quickly answered, _**_"_****_with it, I can bring him back. without it, I can only stall his soul from leaving."_**

_Agreeing to it since it will save his son, Minato quickly moved to the spot where Naruto was and placed his hand on the tail that completely covered the boy._

_Kurama started to move the Yin Chakra into the boy and prayed to his father that it would work._

* * *

_~Real world~_

_Naruto's body began to glow brighter until it was encased in a ball of light that went unnoticed by anyone, with the festival fireworks going off outside as the rain had stopped not long ago_

* * *

_~Naruto's mindscape~_

_Kurama was losing a lot of power in saving Naruto but he didn't care. He didn't care his tails were disappearing one by one, he didn't care that he was losing muscle mass and size, but what he did care about was that the process was working. He could feel his kit starting to return and light was coming back into the mindscape. He finally reached his limit but it was done. He removed his remaining tail and was shocked to see that instead of a human body, there lay the body of a small fox kit._

* * *

_~Real world~_

_The orb of light died down with the kunai flopping to the side with signs of turning to dust from the concentrated demon chakra going to it. There lay an unconscious fox kit peacefully unaware of the world around it_

* * *

_~Naruto's mindscape~_

_Minato was stunned silent for a moment "What happened to him?!" he yelled glaring at the Kyuubi_

**_"It must have been a side effect of so much demonic chakra used to revive him using both the Yin and the Yang chakra when they are separate instead of together. The blasted kunai was somehow keeping my demonic chakra from leaving his body much. Too much of it not really speeding through his body and it converted into this to compensate."_**

_"So what will happen to him now?" Minato said looking at the fox kit_

**_"I don't know. From what I can sense, he has become a bijuu jinchuuriki, his body has become about 70% Bijuu and the last 30% is organic, which means he is a being made mostly of chakra, so as he gets older he will be gaining tails since at the moment he only has two"_**

_Minato crouched down to the kit "so….he has the same amount of power as if he accessed two tails of your power?"_

_Shaking his head Kurama clarified _**_"no. the amount of tails does not always signify a demon's power. Sometimes it is a sign of its age. This is all speculation since there have only ever been us nine and this has never happened before."_**

_Minato got up from his crouch and looked at the fox "so what happens now?"_

**_"I will be sealing away his memories for a bit to remove the negative effects they will have on him and as for you…."_** _he said pointing at Minato _**_"I shall reseal you into the seal so you may talk to him at a later date."_**

_Looking a little sheepish and rubbing the back of his head Minato asked: "will he be able to speak to Kushina-chan as well…?"_

_Looking down on him Kurama couldn't help but ask with some strain in his voice _**_"you sealed a construct of her in here as well?_****_"_**_ with Minato's nod Kurama sighed _**_"_****_that will be up to you when you and the kit meet but now that he is safe I believe it's time to end this whole thing._****_"_**_ and with that Minato nodded his head before he slowly vanished back into the seal. Tired and out of power Kurama laid down in front of the kit and couldn't help but smile at the little thing._

* * *

_~Real world Naruto's apartment~_

_The little fox kit began to wake up. Opening its eyes to reveal slitted azure blue eyes. Stretching its front legs and yawning cutely, much like a cat, he shook his head and looked around not knowing where it was._

_Looking around it began to find a way outside and began to scratch at the door hoping to open it but to no avail. Giving up it looked around again and noticed a door leading to another room and went inside finding some furniture and bed, it looked around and finally noticed its two tails swishing gently behind it. Crouching a bit it jumped at them but missed as they turned with its body, it tried again and again for several more times until it grabbed one and started to wrestle with it and did so for a while_

_Flashback end_

* * *

~Hokage office~

Inoichi was pulled from the memory when Hiruzen asked if he remembered the people that attacked Naruto "yes sir, I remember the faces of the man and genin that caused this." he said with venom in his voice when he spoke about these individuals. It bugged him even more since the look on the older genins' faces were close to malicious against the boy

"Good, you will be leading an Anbu team to collect the Chunin to receive punishment for his actions. The genin shall be removed from our forces and banned from ever being shinobi of this village. The parents shall be brought in and questioned about the behavior of their children and if it is found that they encouraged this, they shall be punished by Ibiki for a month. I would have them executed but since they have children that shall now remain as civilians, they shall remain alive. I will also be having my personal Anbu investigate the council since it could only be one of them that had the chance to create that mission document that Inu received with the Hokage seal on it. This action is treason against the village and will not be tolerated!" Hiruzen said with a stern look and well-concealed fury.

Hearing this Inoichi gave his request "Hokage-Sama, with your permission, when we retrieve the Chunin, I would like to have a few minutes alone with him if you don't mind, sir!"

Quirking a brow Hiruzen asked "Oh? and why is that?"

Inoichi standing up straight responded, "His actions against a child have brought great discomfort to me and I would like to be the one to deal some punishment to the man."

Hiruzen, looking at the Yamanaka, couldn't help but think there was more to this but he agreed all the same. Inoichi will have his time with the man. If only he knew that the man's punishment will be done a little more thoroughly. Trying to think about what to do with the fox kit he decided that the fewer people know about this the better, so turning to Inu he began to prepare "Inu I would like you to place Naruto-Kun here under a sleeping genjutsu as I make some preparations."

Inu nodded his head and walked to the sleeping fox and shook him awake.

Slowly opening his eyes Naruto groggily got up on all fours and stretched by lifting his butt and tails in the air while pushing his front paws in front of him (like a cat). Finishing his stretch he sat on his haunches and with his eyes still closed wiped his face with his right paw. He finally got some of the sleep out of his eyes and looked up at Inu as the ninja moved his Anbu mask and headband a bit and revealed an eye with a scar going vertically over it and the Iris of the eye being blood red with 3 Tomoes in a triangle formation

"Sleep!"

Naruto was extremely uncomfortable when he saw the eye but he couldn't think about it as a second later his eyes grew very heavy and fell on his side asleep once more.

Putting both his headband and Anbu mask back on, Inu turned to the Hokage "He will remain asleep until I release him from the genjutsu but if I may ask, what do you plan on doing sir?"

Getting up from his seat, Hiruzen picked up the, once again, sleeping fox and turned Inu "it is something that I feel must be done." he turned to Inoichi before continuing "When you retrieve your query you are to take him to the Anbu headquarters prison cells. Once that is done Inu, you are to go to this address." he said as he gave Inu a slip of paper "you and Inoichi will receive instructions when you arrive."

Inoichi paused for a moment and asked "Sir why will you not give the instructions now?"

With a stern look, he answered "This situation has brought some things to light and I want to play this really close to the chest. I'm not willing to gamble on this so much so this must be done quickly and quietly." Everyone, in understanding, nodded their heads and thought about the whole situation "What are you waiting for?! You have your missions! Now get to it!" Hiruzen all but yelled at the ninja in his office. With that, they all went to complete their missions and Hiruzen left with Naruto in a Shunshin.

* * *

~with the search team~

Inoichi followed the tracker of the Anbu team as they made their way towards their target. Inoichi wanted to personally retrieve this man as it was sickening that someone in their forces could be so cruel to an innocent. It didn't take long until they arrived at the entrance of a bar and a celebration could be heard from the outside.

"Yeeeah! With its death the village will be at peace once again, I bet the Hokage will beg me to be his personal Anbu guard!" said their target as he and a group of five, who are presumed to be his friends, made a toast

"Man, they might just make YOU the Hokage after you finished what the Yondaime set up for us!"

"Hell yeah and when I do become the Hokage I will promote all of you guys to jonin, we will be living the good life after this, boys!". Several of the other patrons were watching the celebration with smiles on their faces hearing that the demon was gone, some saying they will buy the man a drink.

Hearing enough of this Inoichi gave his orders "I want four of you to stay here in case some of them try to escape the remaining five will arrest the celebrating party and one of you will join me in apprehending our target" getting nods he walked in, heading straight for the man. Once in front of the group he made himself know "I am sorry to tell you this but your celebration has come to an end" Inoichi said in a professional manner.

Everyone in the bar stopped what they were doing and looked to Inoichi. The Chunin asked "What do you mean? We should be celebrating for weeks after I killed that demon brat! Am I right boys?!"

Everyone in the bar shouted out "YEAH!" while raising their mugs

Temper rising but holding on to his composure he continued "You are under arrest sir for misconduct to a superior officer, assault on a child, manipulation of genin for your own goals, breaking and entering and attempted murder on a citizen of the Leaf! In fact, You and everyone else celebrating are under arrest as well for breaking the Sandaime's Law!"

Hearing this they all got up from their chairs screaming "WHAT THE FUCK?! YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS?!"

In the blink of an eye, everyone apart from the main target were tied up in wire coming from the team of Anbu.

Everyone tried to get out of the wires but soon stopped when the Anbu began to pull out their blades.

Angry at the turn of events the Chunin turned to Inoichi and threw a right haymaker. Unfortunately for him, it was caught by Inoichi and with minimal strength, Inoichi threw the man over his shoulder and slammed him onto the ground. "let me add assault on a Jonin officer and one of the heads of the 'Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force'!" With one final punch to the face, the Chunin was knocked out and pulled onto his shoulders. Turning to the Anbu "take them away, I will handle this one" and with that, they all left leaving everyone else in the restaurant stunned about what just happened

* * *

End of chapter

Next chapter Punishment will be given and Hiruzen will finish his preparations

Hope you look forward to it

Till next time

update 11/12/19: edits and reformated structure. later chapters will be updated asap

****8/8/20******:** rewritten bits of this chapter to fit with the changes done in chapter 1. Final rewrite should be chapter 5 but that should be minor changes in very little bits of dialogue. If you are willing let me know if there are any other changes that need to be done for this arc

Please read and review


	5. Punishment from three sides

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech"**

'**Demon/Summon thoughts'**

**Jutsu Name**

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer I don't own Naruto

* * *

Chapter 5: Punishment from three sides

It had been some hours since the group that attacked Naruto had been captured and put into the Anbu headquarters prison cells which to the people outside only looks like a common storage warehouse located at the west side of the village.

Inoichi was walking past several observation windows with some things going through his head 'I won't have a lot of time to do this but for this, I won't need it, just do it and return before Kakashi can return from his report'

* * *

_~Flashback~_

_After everyone was dropped off at the Anbu Prison Inoichi and Kakashi had arrived at the address that was given to them by the Hokage, that was located in one of the forests just outside the village "well this is the place so we should head inside" Kakashi said as he and Inoichi walked through the door of a small cottage with trees as a sort of barrier at the back of it._

_As they entered they noticed several seals around the cottage and in the main room and saw Naruto sleeping on a coffee table with a small note next to him. Walking up to him and picking up the note, Inoichi read the note out loud "the both of you are to guard Naruto until I arrive in a few hours, Inu you are to check on the genjutsu and make sure that it remains after you are sure that it is still stable you are to report to me to discuss some things and Inoichi you are to remain with Naruto"._

_After hearing this, Kakashi looked at Naruto and pulled off his mask, revealing his dull-looking right eye while his other eye was covered by his Hitai-ate, which was slanted in order to cover it. He pulled up his Hitai-ate and examined Naruto "It seems that the genjutsu is still strong and will still remain. I will be going to the Hokage to report that we have apprehended everyone and they are sent to the Anbu Prison. Ibiki and Anko are set to go through them." After Kakashi said that he placed his Anbu mask back on and _**_shunshined _**_away._

_Seeing that this might be the only chance he could get he made his move. Waiting for a few minutes, he walked to Naruto and picked him up 'time to get the request over and done with'. And with that, he placed the sleeping fox into his jackets inner pocket and _**_shunshined _**_to the prison building._

_~Flashback end~_

* * *

Inoichi kept walking through the halls until he saw Anko Mitarashi who was looking through an observation window of one of the interrogation rooms. Noticing a scowl on the woman's face he stopped next to her and looked into the room "So how many have you gone through?"

Not looking away from what was going on in the room she answered the man "This would be my fourth one and after another few more … 'sessions' with this one, I will move on to the next one and then come back to this one after thirty minutes." she gripped her jacket sleeve hard as she thought about how many of the citizens were found guilty for encouraging the behavior of the genin. True they were basically glorified mercenaries and that at one point they would have to kill in a mission but for genin to be so keen on killing one of their own just sickened her. It was the behavior of a bandit rather than a proud shinobi.

Inoichi would have felt bad for this citizen but after what they did, he held no sympathy. Looking into the room he said one more thing before heading to his destination "Give him a few more for the kid."

Hearing this Anko felt her anger rise even more and couldn't help but punch the window and was silently thankful for the window being too tough to break. Her breathing became heavy as she spoke with much anger "They should be glad they get to live to see it were up to me I would have them killed. They manipulated their own kids in taking their so-called 'revenge' on someone that didn't do anything wrong!" taking a deep breath and pressing her hand on a certain spot on her neck she continued softly "…..neither of us asked for our curses...or their hatred…."

Inoichi frowned at this when he heard it but he knew he had something that needed to be done so he left the woman to her own devices. He felt a bit of shifting in his jacket and thought to himself 'She's right, you didn't deserve this at all' he thought as he left.

Anko continued to watch one of the citizens they apprehended being eaten slowly by one of her larger snake summons as he was screaming for his life. However, it went unheard since the room was soundproof.

After a few minutes of walking, Inoichi saw his destination in front of him at the end of the hall.

* * *

The Chunin found himself chained to the wall, covered in snake slime, and bleeding from several lacerations all over his body and unable to see since the room only had a small lightbulb in the center of the room as well as his blurry vision. Hearing the door open, he lifted his head and saw the man that put him in there, and with what little strength he had he glared at the man "YOU!…. How dare you put me in here on those false charges!"

Inoichi glared back and said nothing. All he did was grab a chair, that was barely visible in the corner of the room, and brought it in front of the man just out of reach as the Chunin began to flail wildly trying to get at the Yamanaka. Sitting down in front of the man, he got tired of the yelling so he gently reached into his jacket and pulled out Naruto and set him on his lap sleeping away.

When the Chunin saw the fox he paused for a second and then went even crazier than before and began to ramble "SO IT FINALLY SHOWS ITS TRUE FACE. AND WHY IS THAT DEMON ALLOWED TO ROAM AROUND THE VILLAGE NOW THAT IT HAS SHOWED ITSE ...GAH!" he was silenced when Inoichi grabbed hard on his head with one of his hands.

Placing his other hand gently on Naruto's head he spoke quietly with venom in his voice "This is a request that I agree on, so I hope that after this meeting, I never see you alive again ….**Ninja Art: Mind transference****!**"

* * *

~inside Naruto's mind~

The Chunin found himself in a run-down sewer-like area (you know the one) and was confused as he looked down and realized that he was healed. "How the hell did I get here? Did that Demon lover knock me out and toss me in here thinking I wouldn't find the way out? What an idiot, there is always a way out." Walking in a random direction he headed deeper through the tunnels.

He then found himself in a very large room and stood in the center of the room "Great a dead end, now I have to backtrack and choose another route." Turning around he was about to go back the way he came but stopped when he heard some loud growling behind him. Turning towards the pitch-black side of the room he felt a massive amount of KI directed at him and got a vision where he saw himself being torn to pieces and then another vision with his limbs being ripped from his body but still conscious. Tears running down his face he couldn't tear his sight from the darkness where the growling was coming from. Then he saw them: the eyes opening and glaring straight down at him, he stopped breathing for three seconds staring at the eyes. When he regained the ability to breathe he started to wheeze and fell back on his butt, never taking his sight off the eyes as they started to rise, never stopping its glare at the man.

**Warning heavy injury ahead - though it's kind of mild really**

The eyes started to slowly come closer to him and out of the shadows and he started to see what it was. First, a clawed hand came out of the shadows slamming into the ground. Second, a snout with razor-sharp teeth, the size of his whole body, that the man knew could shred him to tiny bloody chunks. Third came the long fox ears that did not seem that of a normal fox. Finally came the body that which completed the visage what the man now knew for sure was the nine-tailed fox. In fear and panic, the man began to crawl away towards where he came from as fast as he could. He kept tripping and stumbling as he moved, not able to get to his feet and before he could make it far, a metal gate was thrown in front of him, blocking the exit. In a small whimpering voice, he begged with a nonstop stream of tears flowing down his face as well as trying to get through the bars of the cage door blocking his path "No, nonononononono, please kami, save me. Let me out, let me out, let me out, I wanna go home, I won't do anything bad please let me-AAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!" He whimpered out before Kurama bit on his leg hard enough to cause bleeding but soft enough not to sever it.

Kurama dragged the man back to the center of the room and let him go.

The Chunin grabbed his leg as he saw the massive holes that the beast's teeth left. It took him a second to remember where he was and he lifted his head in time to see a stream of fire coming towards him. Once the flames hit him, he screamed while he felt his skin being incinerated off him. He could feel his muscles melt into a sludge, his blood boiled rapidly inside his veins that were burst with boils from the heat. His organs blistered rapidly before breaking apart, he felt his lungs that were now deprived of oxygen crumble away, his heart had shriveled up before popping. Even his bones were not spared as they were becoming ash with the rest of what was happening to him. The entire thing felt like years were passing when it was seconds but the pain was excruciating

After it was done, the Chunin's eyes shot open to see that he was still in the center of the room. Looking down he saw that was still alive with no injury. "I'm alive! Haha, it was nothing but a genjutsu. I bet that stupid demon lover put me in it. When I get back at him he will….huh?". He stopped his rant when the world began to spin before he felt his head hit something. Moving his eyes he saw that there was a headless body going limp. 'What the…'. He realized that he could speak and that his neck was in pain but as he tried to move, he realized that he couldn't feel anything but pain. His head felt like someone pierced it with a burning kunai but he couldn't scream. In fact, no sound was coming out of his mouth. He then felt something on both sides of his head and was moving into the air. His eyes widened when he saw the Kyuubi staring at him with rage in its eyes.

Kurama held the man's head between his index finger and thumb. He felt contempt at the Ningen's head before he squished it.

The Chunin's eyes shot open to see he was sitting in the center of the room again. In a panic, he got up on his feet and looked around and looked up to see the Kyuubi looking down at him. He screamed and tried to run away but then felt something grab his arm. Turning his head he saw that the Kyuubi had grabbed his left arm in its fingers. When he felt himself being lifted he tried punching the furred fingers with everything he had but to no avail. He felt the fingers shifting a bit on his arm but didn't know what it was doing. He got his answer when the fingers shifted a bit more and snapped the bone in the arm "AAAARRRRRGGHHHH". He flailed at the fingers even harder trying to get the now broken arm out of the demons grasp. His flailing stopped when he felt his right leg being grabbed in the same manner as his arm "No let me go you no go de AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!" His leg was now broken in the same manner as his arm. He could still feel the grasp on both his arm and leg and didn't know why it didn't let him go yet. His body started to move to a horizontal position "grrrr what a-are you d-doing?" He asked in a soft horse voice. He got his answer when he felt his arm and leg being softly tugged in opposite directions. "No nonono NO please don't!" He began to cry in fear as he felt the Kyuubi tug again, and again and again, each one stronger than the last. After six tugs or so, it became a slow pull and he knew what was coming up next "Don't do it ...Kami please ...don't let this happ….GAARRRGHH" he felt both his broken arm and leg being ripped off his body with blood splattering on his face and then felt a rush of air as he fell from a few stories. He felt the impact of the floor and his eyes shot open again to find himself in a sitting position in the center of the room once more

The Chunin didn't even take the time to see around him, he just got to his feet and ran with all his might to where he thought the exit might be. After a few steps, he collapsed onto the ground face-first as he felt immense pain from his legs. He would have looked back if it wasn't for the pair of legs that were cut from above the knee hit the ground in front of him. The blood from the legs created a puddle that his face was now in. He knew the legs belonged to him. For a reason, even he didn't know he slowly reached out to them but a brief sight of something white passing by and the arms he reached out with was severed from below the elbow "MMMMRRRRRRRMM!" He stifled his scream but had more tears coming down his face as he brought the now stump to his chest as he used his only remaining limb to hold it close to felt his body being forced to lay on his back and he saw a couple of white pointed objects heading towards him and then he felt massive amounts of burning pain in his eye sockets. He would have tried to move his remaining hand to his eyes but he then felt his remaining arm quickly separated from his body. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" All he could do was flail his stumps around as his arms, legs, and eyes were gone. His flailing sprayed his blood everywhere as his body was in the center of a large puddle of blood that reflected the Kyuubi looking down at him.

The Chunin was entirely shocked to be able to see again but this time he didn't run, he curled into a ball, face down and prayed that it would stop. He didn't get his wish as he felt something stab straight through his back, severing his spine, and through his arms cutting them off.

Again awake he looked towards the Kyuubi with a mad look in his eyes "I will not let you keep doing this to me!" He screamed with his eyes glaring, one eye still with normal coloring but one was opened wider, bloodshot and the usual white sclera was now a reddish pink. Jumping into the air towards the Kyuubi, he pulled out a kunai from his weapons pouch but he never made it to his target as the Kyuubi swung his hand in a fan-like motion and the wind from the swipe blew him further into the air. Before he made his harsh decent he felt the Kyuubi bite down on his torso. He spat out tons of blood from his mouth before he gave wheezing screams

Lifting the still screaming Chunin in his mouth, Kurama flicked his head hard to the left and threw the Chunin towards the wall. He watched as the man impact the wall hard before falling down like a ragdoll. Kurama spat out the blood in his mouth and moved towards the Chunin.

Laying on his side he could feel that both of his arms, ribs, and both legs were broken. Bleeding excessively, he had internal injuries and a punctured lung, which cause difficulty breathing. He couldn't think straight anymore but he could hear the footsteps of the Demon fox walking close to him. Turning his eyes he saw it standing above him and heard it speak

**"You don't get the chance to die or even pass out until I say you can!"**

gasping for air he let out a silent whimpering "W-w-wha…?".

Looking at the bleeding Ningen, Kurama hardened his glared and flipped him on his back with his claw before stabbing said claw into his stomach

"Ar *gurgle* gh"

**"How does it feel? Did you enjoy the pain you put my kit through?!****"** Twisting his claw he continued **"You get to feel his pain! But unlike my kit, you won't die. Your mind however won't."** And with a growl he finished **"****So I will be punishing you until I'm satisfied, then…...you have my permission to die****"** and with another twist of his claw he began

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH"

**Warning end marker**

* * *

~Real world~

Inoichi was glad he didn't see whatever it was the Kyuubi did because after a few minutes the man began to convulse and bleed from the eyes, nose, and mouth. See no other reaction happen he ended the Jutsu, letting the man's head fall limp and got up as he gently put Naruto in his jacket inner packet and made sure he was as comfortable as possible. He began to walk out of the room leaving the now broken man to hang by his chains until his execution.

Walking out of the building he had one final thought before he **shunshined **back to the hideout 'I fulfilled your request Kyuubi'

* * *

~Unknown location~

Hiruzen had finished what he needed with Kakashi. Afterward, put the final touches to his plan in secret and was all ready for what he was going to do next. He left in a **shushin **and arrived at the hideout.

* * *

~Hideout~

Once he arrived he saw that Kakashi was staring out the window on high alert and Inoichi sitting on a chair with Naruto sleeping on his lap. "I see you both have completed your missions."

They both turned to the Hokage and bowed as best they could "Hokage-sama, are you here to move with this plan of yours?".

Walking to Inoichi he picked up the sleeping Naruto and began to walk towards the door "Yes, I have finished up everything and you two are now free to go back to your usual duties".

Hearing this both ninja had to know what it was the Hokage wanted to do with the boy "Sir, what are you going to do with Naruto?" Kakashi asked

Turning to the ninja Hiruzen answered, "I'm going to return him to his original state" and with that finally said he **Shunshined **away.

* * *

~Back in Unknown location~

Hiruzen now stood in a large room holding his hands in the ram sign with Naruto laying in an intricate seal array in front of him. Focusing his chakra into the seal array he began. The seal began to glow as it shrank and crawled onto Naruto's body until it covered his body. For 24 minutes they stayed still until the seal finally finished and in a bright light that caused Hiruzen to close his eyes, Naruto appeared in his original Eight-year-old body, but with no clothes on and a new seal on his lower back that disappeared. Hiruzen opened his eyes to see this, walked up to the boy, pulled off his Hokage robes, wrapped the boy up, and with a tired sigh, he walked out.

* * *

~Naruto's apartment that night~

After Hiruzen met with Kakashi who was shocked to see Naruto back to normal, they went back to Naruto's apartment, dressed the boy and laid him in his bed

"So, now what do we do Hokage-Sama?"

With the tired sigh, Hiruzen answered "We keep going as if nothing happened, but I want you to begin an investigation on the people that have access to my office, find the ones that sent you on that mission and you are to terminate them, no exceptions!" He said in a stern voice

"Hai Hokage-Sama!"

Turning to leave Hiruzen gives his last order for the day "release him from the Genjutsu and begin your mission"

Doing as he was told he released the genjutsu and left the boy to his sleep.

With a jolt, Naruto woke up and looked around through sleepy squinted eyes but seeing nothing plopped onto his pillow and went back to sleep with a few mumbles "hmmm…..Rama…..Rama….ramen…..mmmm". He continued with some drool coming out of his mouth and within a few seconds, he began to slowly purr in his sleep.

* * *

**~Alternate ending~** (not used because it would change too much of how the story would have gone)

After Hiruzen met with Kakashi who was shocked to see Naruto back to normal, they went back to Naruto's apartment, dressed the boy, and laid him in his bed "So, now what do we do Hokage-Sama?". With the tired sigh Hiruzen answered "We keep going as if nothing happened but you, Tenzo and Neko will be rotating in protection detail for Naruto and you will report to me before every switch and it will only be you 3 that have this job, no one else will take this duty so if any other shinobi or Anbu comes to you saying they will be taking over you are to terminate them immediately for I will not have given such an order." he said in a stern voice "Hai Hokage-Sama!"

Turning to leave Hiruzen gives his last order for the day "release him from the Genjutsu and begin your mission but do so from a distance"

Obeying his Hokage he released the Genjutsu and leaped out the window to begin his mission from the same roof he was on much earlier in the day

* * *

End of chapter

Now the reason I changed the ending was that it seemed much too logical and I feel like Naruto should still go through some trouble with the villagers so he has more of a reason for his actions later on and it would make him a bit more humble as I believe that for certain people a hard life can make them better people. Also, I want Naruto to still be somewhat happy go lucky for as long as possible

For the Torture scene, I just let it come out as it came to my head and I wanted to add that little movie quote in it

The next chapter will be more lighthearted I hope. Look forward to it

**update notice 11/15**: reformated and fixed some of the dialogue

Please Read and Review


	6. Second meeting

So many ideas I could use and only on chapter 6 that even I have to wait before I can get to them

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Summon thoughts**'

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer I don't own Naruto

* * *

Chapter 6: Second meeting

Naruto had woken up feeling awkward and strained. Getting out of bed he couldn't help but feel like he wasn't in his own body and moving his arms and legs felt like his joints were tightened up but not by much. "Why do I feel like I should meet a chri….chrio, chripecter….chriosceptor? whatever that word is!" He said as he tried to get up but as he got off the bed and on his feet but fell to the ground. "Owww why can't I walk, are my feet asleep? Maybe this is what happens if I don't sleep without my nighty cap" as he said this he looked at the clock that was on his nightstand and his eyes grew wide "Oh No! It's 7:15 already! If I don't leave soon I'm going to be late!" with that, he rushed into the bathroom to quickly take a shower. After he finished the shower he quickly put on a black shirt with a red swirl on the front and white shorts that have a blue line going down the side. Once dressed he saw the time was 7:40 which meant he had twenty minutes until class so he ran out the door, quickly locking the door and decided to take the back alleys to avoid the people's glares and harsh words and because it would get him there faster. Throughout all his running and panic he never noticed that he was running on all fours and going at a much faster pace than normal.

Arriving at the academy and seeing that some kids were still outside he figured he made it on time. But he was really confused because thinking back he was sure he would be late. "Maybe my clock is broken again?" Making it to the hallway he got up to his two feet unconsciously and started walking to his class with a lot of difficulty. He ended up using the wall to try and walk but kept falling. Finally making it to the classroom he kept tripping and landed to all fours as he tried to make it to the back of the class, much to his embarrassment as the students in the class started laughing as his teacher said nothing to stop it and kept sneering at the boy.

Making it to his seat he just decided to keep his head down for the rest of the class. He kept moving his arms and legs under his desk but couldn't get his arms to feel normal again.

* * *

Once lunch had arrived he waited for everyone to leave before he went on to nap under his favorite tree which has a swing that only he uses. After some difficulty in walking he made it and leaned his back against the tree, he felt really uncomfortable around everyone. It felt 'wrong' to be around a lot of people like he no longer just felt the glares he could FEEL the hatred and he was starting to make him feel sick but at the moment leaning on the tree some distance from the rest of the students and teachers he began to relax.

Resting his head on the tree he closed his eyes and began to try and relax. It wasn't until 5 minutes later that he really began to relax as a scent he knew he hasn't smelt before but somehow felt somewhat familiar, the smell of lavender and Vanilla. He couldn't help but smile when he smelt it.

"A-ano…...Hello?" Opening his eyes he turned his head to see a girl his age with white pupilless eyes looking at him in curiosity.

Naruto looked at the girl and couldn't help but think that she seemed familiar and squinted his eyes and tilted his head racking his brain to see if he could remember this girl. After a few minutes he thought of it "Oh hey your the girl that was being bullied a few months ago!". He said as he pointed at her but in the back of his mind he felt that that wasn't really where he felt he remembered her

"H-hai, I want to thank y-you for saving me from that and…..I'm s-sorry for what happened to y-your scarf." She said in a soft whisper as she bowed to him.

Naruto was kinda taken aback with the show of respect to him so he tried to tell her "it's ok, you don't need to apologize to me." he said as he rubbed the back of his head but winced in moving his arms. He tried not to show it on his face but he didn't do a very good job since Hinata gained a look of worry. "A-are you ok?!"

Naruto not wanting to cause trouble for her since she was being nice to him tried to calm her down "Yeah I'm fine, my arms just feel funny." He said while he gave her his foxy grin that calmed her down.

Hinata, now calmed down from her worry wanted to bring up Naruto's pet fox so she decided to just ask him "A-ano Naruto-Kun?" she began, getting his attention "w-when did you get y-your small pet fox?"

Now Naruto was really confused, tilting his head and thinking about what she said 'pet fox? I don't have a pet fox. Maybe I should get one. I love foxes and they seem fun to play with!' looking back at her he answered "Foxes are cool and they seem really fun and hyper, they are really cool fun animals. Dattebayo!" he said as he jumped up a bit and landed back on the ground in a crouched sitting position and both his hands on the ground right in front of him.

Hinata had to use what little Hyuga willpower she had not to say "Kawaii" since he looked like a puppy in his sitting position.

At that moment the instructors called all the students to come back in since their break was over. Knowing that they would be going their separate ways they both gave their goodbyes and went to their separate class.

Once Naruto had gotten to his seat, albeit late with his slow pace, Naruto started to feel agitated that his teacher kept calling on him to answer the questions even though there were many others who raised their hands to answer. He really didn't like it when the teachers picked on him and even though it was boring he tried but when he does ask for help they punished him saying he is disrupting the class with his misbehavior.

He began to think of pranks he could do against the teacher and so began his pranking streak against not only his teachers but the villagers as well.

* * *

When the school day ended, Naruto just wanted to go home since all day he couldn't move normally and was using a stick he found as a walking stick to help. This, however, gave the citizens the idea that he would be an easier target. One by one the villagers started to become a mob until one of them couldn't take it anymore and threw a rock at the boy hitting him in the head and forced him to the ground face first.

Looking back he finally noticed the mob. He hadn't noticed because he was trying to walk straight and felt really, really uneasy as he walked but now that he saw it he became afraid. The mob started to run after the boy and on pure instinct, he got up and started running on all fours with no real direction.

The Anbu would have interfered with this if there were any Anbu around but due to the investigation on the council, most, if not all Anbu members were all unavailable so no one was around to stop it and unfortunately the few that did notice, hated the boy and just turned the other way.

Naruto just moving on pure instinct didn't realize that he had entered a forest just outside the south gate. He also didn't realize that he had lost the mob some time ago but when he finally stopped he looked around seeing he was in a forest. No longer feeling fear he started to walk around and trying to find his way back to the village but after five minutes of walking, he started to feel at peace in the forest. It was then that he noticed he didn't feel that weird feeling in his arms and legs and looking down he realized he was walking on all fours. "huh ….that's funny hehe" he said as he began to run around finding it fun and more comfortable for him. He spent two hours in the forest just enjoying running around and didn't realize that the sun was going down but he stopped when he heard a voice behind. "Naruto-Kun, what are you doing out here?". Turning around he saw the Hokage in his Hokage robes "Ji-chan!" He yelled as he ran to his grandfather figure

Hiruzen, however, looked a little concerned at the boy "Naruto why are you walking like that?" he asked as Naruto got in front of him.

Naruto looked at the old man confused but then figured it out "I don't know why but my arms felt weird the whole day but it stopped feeling weird when I ran like this, besides it's fun! Dattebayo!" he said as he ran in circles around the Hokage and laughing.

In a stern lecturing voice, he got Naruto's attention "Naruto! You need to walk on your own two feet, not your hands!" Naruto stopped and looked distressed by this. He tried to whine about it but a look from Hiruzen told him not to "Naruto you can't go around like that you must act like a normal person which means no walking like an animal."

"...Ok, Jiji…." Naruto said as he got up and tried to steady himself.

"Good, now how about we go get some ramen since it has been a while since we ate together." He had to thank his many many years of experience to not fall over when a yellow-haired bullet launch himself at his midsection and with a small chuckle he **shunshined** to Ichiraku Ramen.

* * *

~Ichiraku Ramen stand~

Once they arrived Naruto gave his casual greeting "Ayame-nee-chan! Teuchi-ji-chan! six bowls of chicken Ramen please!"

Out from the back, came Ayame: a young 13-year-old girl with long, dark brown hair and large black eyes. She wore a white robe with the sleeves folded up. "Hey Naruto-chan, we were worried about you when the Anbu were looking for you a few days ago!" she nearly screamed as she brought him into a strong hug. "Hey, dad! Naruto's back!" and after that, an older man came out from the back.

Teuchi was a very kind and jovial man with a face that looked like he didn't know how to really frown and even though his eyes seemed to always be closed, you can always tell you had his attention "Naruto! Good to see you alright my boy and Hokage-sama pleasure to see you at our establishment." He said the last part with a bow

As Naruto sat there in confusion for hearing that the Anbu were looking for him, the Hokage decided to end the conversation before more questions were asked "The pleasure is mine Teuchi-san and It was a small matter that was taken a bit out of proportion, since for a moment, we couldn't find him." he said as he sat down looking at Ayame.

Naruto repeated his order after his stomach decided to get everyone at the stand and a few passersby civilians that thought an animal was loose in the village. "You sure you don't want any Miso ramen? it IS your favorite." Teuchi asked, a bit curious about Naruto ordering six bowls of the chicken ramen and not even one of the boy's favorite: Miso ramen.

"Yeah, I'm just really craving chicken right now!" Naruto said with a big smile on his face.

As he and the Hokage ate their meals, the Hokage kept an eye on Naruto as he ate and noticed that the boy had some stiff movements and some trouble holding the chopsticks "Naruto, it seems that you are having problems in your movements, I would recommend getting back to normal as quickly as possible."

Naruto looking at the Hokage with noodles stuffed in his mouth nodded his head cause he hated feeling like this but was too lost in his ramen

* * *

~Meanwhile at the Hyuga Compound~

Hinata was walking to her father's office after a branch member went to fetch her. She was really nervous because her father never called her to his office unless it was a personal request or something from the elder council. Reaching to the door she softly knocked and waited for permission to enter. When a stern "Enter" was heard she opened the door she saw her father sitting on his knees in front of a low table with paperwork organized on each side. Walking till she was in front of the table and bowed low before she sat on the pillow set directly in front of the table and waited to be addressed.

"I wish for your confirmation on a certain fact that has been brought to my attention," Hiashi said without revealing any emotion on his face or his voice.

"H-hai O-otou-san" she answered.

"In the academy, there is a boy by the name Naruto Uzumaki, correct?". Hinata nodded her head as an answer "Well, you are to avoid any and all contact with the boy" Hiashi said much to Hinata's shock

"W-w-why!?" she exclaimed with a little more force but still not loud enough to be a shout.

Hiashi looking in his daughter's eyes scowled slightly "This is an order from the elder council and I agree with the decision. The boy is nothing but trouble and you would be disgracing the clan's name if you speak to him."

Hinata wanted to protest immediately but the look on her father's face told her that this was not up for debate and nothing she said would change this so with her head held down she gave in "Hai Otou-san" and with that she got up and left the office and headed to her room. Once she made it to her room and closed the door she laid down on her futon, grabbed the shredded red scarf from her nightstand and shed her silent tears while holding the scarf in her arms at the loss of a possible new friend.

* * *

~Naruto's apartment~

Naruto had arrived at his apartment after the meal he had with the Hokage and was starting to put on his pj's and went to his bed. After laying in his bed he couldn't get comfortable and kept tossing and turning, after 30 minutes he tossed off the blanket and grabbed the pillow and threw them both to the corner of the room. Getting up, he began to get on his feet and went to the kitchen with his on sliding on the wall for balance. After getting a glass of milk that still hasn't gone bad he got back to his room but grumbled as he saw his pillow and blanket in the corner of the room next to his bed since there was a four-foot gap between the wall and the bed. Walking to them he got back on all fours and grabbed the blanket but before he picked them up he paused since now that he was walking in a more comfortable way the tiredness finally hit him so all he did was leave the blanket, crawled on top of the blanket and pillow and curled up on himself much like a dog and fell asleep in a more peaceful matter and started purring

* * *

And there is chapter 6. I really didn't want to do that to Hinata, man I may have written it but now I feel really bad at doing it

Anyway, the next chapter will be a time skip a few years but not directly to the graduation. This and the next chapter and maybe the chapter after it, is meant for establishing some things such as some interactions between characters and some friendships between characters as well as showing that Naruto isn't completely back to normal. And as you readers might have noticed, I added the red scarf from the last Naruto movie and I added it because I wanted to keep things somewhat canon and could really help build a relationship between the 2, I am going to make some events that create a POSSIBILITY of a relationship with other girls as well and if no relationship is made then they keep a strong friendship

Hope you guys like it and the next chapter will take a bit longer to write because classes are taking my time so please be a little patient, please

**update notice 11/19**: changed format to now established set, toned down the stuttering Hinata and fixed the flow a bit

Please read, favorite, follow, and review


	7. New Friends

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Summon thoughts**'

_flashback/memory___

~locations and transitions~

Hey guess what….I actually own ***SMACK* *POOF*** stupid shadow clone….Disclaimer:.I don't own Naruto or the shadow clone jutsu

* * *

Chapter 7: New Friends

Deep in the forest just outside Konoha we see something running through the trees with great speed. Zigzagging and dashing with some other animals joining the race we find the that it had blond sun-kissed hair, wearing a short sleeve orange shirt with white stripes going down the sleeves and side, beige shorts and blue sandals flailing around on his shoulders.

Finally stopping close to the gate but still hidden behind the trees we find a now 10 year old Naruto with a huge smile on his face. Looking behind him he saw saw the small group of foxes stop behind him. With a boisterous laugh he spoke "Hehe looks like I win again…..I'll see you guys later!". Waving goodbye as they left back into the forest he pulled his sandals off his shoulders and put them back on his feet and began to sneak through the gates making sure not to be seen coming through. Once he reached closer to the crowded streets he began to walk normally.

It had taken him over 2 months to get back to walking on his 2 feet without tripping all the time an although he could walk normally now he always found it more comfortable to walk and run on all fours. He could not however sleep in the same bed anymore, he had fashioned himself a pile of pillows and blankets in the corner of his bedroom to sleep in so now the bed is just for show and even if he has gone back to acting more normal not everything that happened to him were happy, in fact his life only seemed to get a little bit better on some days and then worse on others. One of the things that hurt him over the 2 years was when Hinata seemed to avoid him after their first meeting and every time he tried to talk to her he felt extreme sadness, depression and doubt, it only made the hurt from losing his first friend even more painful, so now he just let it be and now spends his lunch on his swing.

Another thing that happened was that he no longer had his dreams with Kurama for weeks he kept hoping that when he fell asleep he would see Kurama again and tell him how his day went or play with the fox like before but it never happened and it only made him feel even more lonelier than before because now he felt like he had no one even in his dreams.

He had reached his apartment without much trouble apart from the glares he always got and looked at his clock and saw it was only 6:30 in the morning. "Guess I should go see what Hokage-jiji wanted to talk about" *growl* "...maybe he will offer me breakfast again hehe" he said as he blushed in a bit of embarrassment and rubbing the back of his head.

After putting on a clean pair of the same clothes and throwing his sandals to hang on his shoulders, he left his apartment. Going to the back alley and looking around to make sure no one saw him, he concentrated a bit before he was engulfed in a puff of smoke and out of the smoke came a red 3 tailed fox with long ears that had the inside coated black that went all the way to his blue slitted eyes, encircling them (he only grew a bit so he is about twice the size of puppy Akamaru now). Shaking his body a bit and making sure his sandals didn't fall off his shoulders, he looked at himself, and with his foxy grin he started running through the alleys at a decent speed.

It was a year ago when his class learned to unlock their chakra and about the 3 graduation jutsus, which were the Henge jutsu which was an illusionary jutsu that coats you in an illusion to alters your appearance, the kawarimi jutsu that allows the user to replace themselves with any object in range, and the Bunshin jutsu which creates clone illusions making it seem like there are more of you. Although he tried to learn the 3 as soon as possible he could only get the Henge and Kawarimi and was terrible at the bunshin but it didn't stop him from trying to take the graduation exam early at the end of last school year but he failed because of his poor academic scores and the failed bunshin he performed, that created dead looking clone that looked like it was melting.

Even with that depressing day in his head he kept his smile especially when he used the Henge and Kawarimi a lot, the former more then the latter and even though it is said that the henge is just an illusion, Naruto's henge were solid making it more of a transformation then an illusion. The thing about it was that his first attempt wasn't even what he was trying to turn into. He wanted to turn into some random civilian but when he performed it,closing his eyes from feeling a burning on his lower back and after a minute he opened his eyes he saw that he was a 2 tailed fox. He felt the most natural he has ever been before but after the teacher started yelling at him and punished him with detention for a month he chose to only do it when he was alone and no one could see him since it became his favorite form even if everytime he does it his lower back burns.

As he ran through the alleys he made a sudden stop as he saw a ladder with a bucket of red paint on the top step with a few civilians walking towards it. Unable to help himself he snickered and began to make his move 'hehehe you should be careful around ladders, they are bad luck'. He made his way to hide on the store overhang right next to the ladder and waited until the civilians walked under it. '...Wait for it …...waaaiiit...for it…..now!' and with a swift flick of his tail the bucket fell on top of 3 civilians while the bucket itself fell on the man in the middles head and they were not happy.

"What the *spits* hell!" yelled one of the men

"Ugh the paint is going to ruin my dress!" screamed the woman

"Who the hell did that!" ranted the other man

In an alley a bit of a distance away Naruto was laughing his ass off at his prank and having a bit of payback on the 3. The woman was the owner of a clothing shop that sold him worn out cloths at inflated prices and the 2 men were employees at a local grocer and always kicked him out everytime he came in.

After his laughing fit he knew he had to get to his jiji before he got mad for being late to the first day of the new year at the academy and ran even faster towards the Hokage tower.

* * *

~Meanwhile in the council chamber~

"We shouldn't let the de...brat continue in the academy, he will obviously corrupt the other students!" yelled one of the civilian council members with the others on the civilian council nodded their heads in agreement while most of the members of the shinobi council as well as the Hokage started to get really tired of hearing the same spiel over and over again from them.

The council was comprised of 4 separate factions which were the civilian council which comprised of owners of a majority of shops and marketing goods and deal with civilian interests, the shinobi council which consists of the major clan heads: the Aburame, Akimichi, Hyuga, Yamanaka, Nara, and Inuzuka as they deal with shinobi affairs, the 3 council elders which were Koharu Utatane and elderly woman with her grey hair done in a small bun, Homura Mitokado an elderly man with grey spiky hair, wearing green framed glasses and Danzō Shimura an old man who had his right eye covered in bandages as well as his arm which is also in a sling, the final faction was the Hokage himself Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"You damn near say the same thing every time we have a meeting and the subject about the pup is brought up, jeez can't you say anything other than that" said Tsume Inuzuka

Tsume has an animalistic look with long, spiky, untamed brown hair, vertical slit-like pupils, elongated canine teeth and nails. She also has the clan fang markings on her cheeks as well as markings over her eyes and a dark shade of purple lipstick. She wears the standard outfit of a Konoha shinobi consisting of flak jacket and a baggy black suit underneath with the sleeves rolled up and bandages around her legs. "Che these idiots never know when to shut up" she mumbled under her breath but was heard by her ninken Kuromaru who is an adult canine with a wolfish appearance with black fur and a white underside. He is missing his left ear, and wears an eyepatch over his right eye. 'Pup has more problems then any of my kin' thought Kuromaru

"It is illogical to repeat these conversations" said Shibi Aburame who has his eyes obscured by dark glasses which feature a single tassel hanging down from one-side. He has very spiky short black hair and a moustache and wearing a high collared outfit

"Troublesome" mumbled Shikaku Nara who had two scars on the right side of his face, dark hair tied up into a spiky ponytail, dark eyes as well as a goatee. His ears were also pierced. wearing a meshed shirt underneath his standard shinobi outfit

"If this is the reason that you called for this meeting then I will end it here and now before it gets out of hand" Hiruzen said as he rubbed his temples find this meeting to be useless

"Hokage-Sama, I believe we should discuss what should be done with the boy" said Danzo trying again to get the Jinchuriki into his Root program which consist of ninja that have been stripped of their emotions even though Hiruzen disbanded the program years ago.

Danzo wanted to turn the Jinchuriki into the perfect weapon and was extremely frustrated with the failed plan to break the boys will during his 8th birthday using the mission document to remove the boys protection and have a mob attack him so he could retrieve the broken boy later. However after the attack, none of his sensor root agents could detect the boy's chakra signature and even when he stationed some of them to stake out the boy's usual hang out spots they could not find him and he thought that the attack had killed the boy and thought he had lost his weapon. But days later the boy shows up again and Hiruzen starts investigating the members of the council and increased security with Anbu loyal to the Hokage. Danzo made sure to cover all his tracks but the Civilian council member that he used to keep the hokage busy in meetings was apprehended and tortured for information, thankfully for him he placed a seal on the man so he could give no information and after a month of torture he was put to death, keeping him in the clear. However after the event the Hokage had some precautions made, such as some more Anbu in the Hokage office and now a weekly check-in with the boy.

With a hard glare Hiruzen answered his old teammate"No Danzo we will NOT discuss anything about the boy". Hiruzen had a feeling that Danzo might have been part of what happened to Naruto but with no solid evidence he could do nothing but that doesn't mean he wasn't wary of his old teammate. Turning to the civilian council he continued "and we will not be removing him from the academy, and regardless of how much you people complain about it, it will stay this way. This meeting is adjourned!"

Walking out of the council chamber Hiruzen made his way back to his office since he was expecting Naruto to show up as he had something to discuss with the boy.

* * *

~Hokage office 10 minutes later~

With as much energy as he had Naruto barged into the Hokage office with a big grin on his face "Morning JIJI! The great Uzumaki Naruto has arrived DATTEBAYO!"

Out of shock Hiruzen tossed up a little orange book before he quickly snatched it out of the air and hid it within his robes. Clearing his throat he address his overly energetic surrogate grandson "ah Naruto, good to see you this morning but I do wish you would come in a little more quietly" he said seeing the wide grin on the boys face. Sighing he went straight to the point "Naruto, you will being transfering to another class this year".

If Naruto was expecting anything from the Hokage this was not one of them, and with a confused tilt of his head he asked "why?".

"The official reason is that after your failed attempt to graduate early..." hearing the old man start that way made Naruto cross his arms, look away and grumble "but the real reason is that I believe the class you will be transferring to will help you out more than your previous classes". Hiruzen had wanted to put Naruto in this class after the the boys first year in the academy after finding out that the instructors were sabotaging him but he was unable to do so since at the moment Naruto fell under the civilian jurisdiction for the most part and students weren't allowed to transfer classes unless certain circumstances were met…..and now they were. One of the reasons is that students were only allowed to transfer after the 2 year mark and even though the council would have kept him in that class, another condition was met, unexpectedly, that gave the Hokage more say in the matter. The class he will be transferring to was comprised of clan heirs and exceptional students that got in through recommendations and after Naruto's attempt at graduation he in essence, had to be reinstated into the academy and with the recommendation of the Hokage he can now attend it.

Hearing what the Hokage said, Naruto perked up a bit hearing that someone might help him "Really….yatta!". He started to jump up and down a bit

"Calm down Naruto so I can give you the note you need to give to your new sensei"

Stopping, standing up straight and giving a mock solute and a semi serious look "Hai!..."

'This boy is testing my sanity more than this bloody paperwork ever did' pulling out a slip of paper from the top drawer of his desk, he gave it to the boy and told him the classroom he will be part of "hopefully your meeting with Iruka-san will be better than your first meeting."

"I don't think I ever met the guy so wouldn't this be my first meeting?" Naruto asked tilting his head with a question mark popping out of it, thinking about what the Hokage said

Sweating a bit the Hokage coughed in his hand "yes you are right, sorry Naruto I had other things on my mind" 'damn it, I'm getting to old for this, I almost let the secret slip'. He watched as naruto left his office, turning to face the window to watch Naruto leave the building and felt dread when he saw Naruto walk into an alley and henged into a 3 tailed fox before running through the alleys towards the academy which wasn't very far away.

"oh please don't tell me the seal I placed is breaking!". Hiruzen's mind was going a mile a second trying to think of what went wrong with the seal, now he wasn't a seal master, in fact he was only a decent user of them but when he put the seal he couldn't have anyone else do it and even when he did the seal he was really concerned that it might not work. All the seal did was pull the kyuubi's chakra that was being used in the Yondaime's seal and the boys own chakra and make it a permanent henge and because the boys chakra became extremely dense it became more of a transformation jutsu that made the boy look normal as well as move normally but when he saw the boy afterwards he noticed that it didn't completely work since Naruto couldn't walk or move normally. Now that he saw Naruto turn into the fox he feared even more for the boy.

"This is not good!" moving to his crystal ball he found the boy running through the alleys before he stopped close to the academy and changed back into his human form and then put his sandals back on before walking to the front gate of the academy 'hmm the seal might still be functioning correctly and he just henges into that form subconsciously…... or it just might be a coincidence' he thought as he walked away from the crystal ball, sat down on his chair, pulling out his pipe and began to smoke to try and calm his nerves and with a sigh 'that boy is going to be the death of me'

* * *

~Iruka's classroom~

Iruka was looking over his student roster making sure that all his students were in the classroom while his teaching aid Mizuki was getting the material ready and although some of the his students were not present all the clan heirs were present.

Looking at the classroom with the seats set in 3 columns and 4 rows with stairs in between the aisles, he looked over the heirs taking note that they haven't changed much in the 2 years he has had them.

The first one of note was Sasuke Uchiha sitting in the front on the right column next to the window, the prodigy of the class and last of his clan. He never interacted with any of his fellow classmates and ignored them as if he was superior to them and none of them were worth his time which was shocking to see in someone so young.

The next one was Kiba Inuzuka sitting in the second row center column, a scruffy looking boy that had a hot headed personality. He had just gotten his ninken partner Akamaru not that long ago and although he still had some trouble with the pup they were still learning so they would make great partners much like the rest of his clan.

Sitting right next to Kiba was his friend Shino Aburame. One of his more stoic students much like the rest of his clansmen and although he comes off as "cold" it is just in the clan mannerisms and is always willing to help out in giving some sound advice.

Sitting in the third row on the left column, were Choji Akimichi and Shikamaru Nara.

Shikamaru was the typical Nara, lazy but underneath that they were extremely intelligent but would rather sleep saying it was too troublesome to do some activities.

Choji was a soft hearted boy who always had a bag of chips in his hands munching away and like any Akimichi never say they are fat or you will learn the hard way that the word is taboo.

Looking at the front seats next to Sasuke was Ino Yamanaka sitting with her friend/ex-friend Sakura Haruno

Ino was a platinum blonde and the gossip of the class, she loves to talk about al the latest trends going around and if there was some sort of secret going around she would do everything she can do find out about it. She may come off as bossy and snooty but she is really a caring girl even if she broke her friendship with her friend Sakura for trying to get the attention of the "last Uchiha"

As for Sakura, she was much like Ino in terms of reasons, she also broke off her friendship with Ino as they were competing for Sasuke. What makes her different was her long pink hair held in a red bow and loud voice. At most times she can be considered polite but when something irritates her she begins to scream and in some cases hit but most of it is set on her former friend Ino.

Speaking of broken friendships, sitting in the back in the last row in the left column by the wall all by herself was Hinata Hyuga. Iruka had seen how she interacted with Naruto during the incident and when they met again at the school, he thought that they would have a strong friendship but the day after that, Hinata began to avoid the boy and what he thought would become a bond between the 2, had died before it even started and from what he saw it hurt both of them.

Hearing a knock at the classroom door, he shook his head of thoughts and walked to open it.

* * *

~meanwhile with Naruto just outside the classroom~

To say that Naruto was nervous was an understatement. He never really liked meeting new people in the village because every time they saw him he always felt extremely distressed and agitated but he always hoped that he might meet someone that doesn't make him feel that way.

Taking a deep breath he knocked on the door and waited for the teacher to open the door

As the door opened he saw a dark skin toned man with a scar that went across his nose and when the instructor saw him he got that bad feeling, not much but it was there and somehow knew he would be just like the other instructors. Pushing the thought aside he handed the slip to the teacher who was still in a state of surprise.

Iruka didn't expect to see the boy he was just thinking about but quickly gained his wits when he read the slip of paper with the details about the transfer that he actually forgot that the hokage told him about it 2 years ago. Telling the boy to wait until he is called in he goes back to the front of the class "may I have everyone's attention " he said but the students kept talk amongst themselves "Everyone!" still nothing, and with a sigh he uses his own personal jutsu the **Big head jutsu "**EVERYONE SHUT UP" and with that they all became quiet and gave Iruka their attention "ok everyone it seems we have a new student joining us today…...you can come in now".

Naruto walked in a bit nervously until he stood next to Iruka "well go ahead and introduce yourself". Iruka told him as he took a breath and gave his introduction "My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'm going to be the Hokage DATTEBAYO!" he said as he regained some confidence but he didn't expect the entire class, save for a few to start laughing at him which really dampened his spirits.

"Pfft what an idiot, thinking he could be Hokage"

"What kind of introduction was that hehaha"

"What was that he said at the end of his sentence hahaha"

Looking around he noticed that some of the others weren't laughing, such as a platinum haired girl, a boy wearing sunglasses, a boy that was taking a nap, the boy sitting next to him eating chips but the last one made him a little more depressed. It was Hinata. She looked at him for a second before turning her head and looking away. Looking down he lifted his head to look at the other instructor and saw that he was sneering at him and just decided to keep his head down so he didn't have to look at anyone

"QUIET! Ok Naruto find an empty seat to take" and with that Naruto made his way to the back next to the window where no one was sitting and just sat there with his head laying down on his arms, tilted so he could stare out the window. Iruka seeing this kinda felt bad for the boy but decided to leave him alone for now and started to do his lecture.

* * *

During their lunch break Naruto was found swinging on his swing under his tree thinking to himself 'if this was what was going to happen, maybe I should've just skipped class like I did before'. So lost in thought he didn't notice someone walking to the side of his swinging 'Maybe I should go and see if there are any pranks I cou-' "you know if you go too high you might fall and hurt yourself" spoke a female voice. So shocked about the voice he let go of the swing as he was at the high point of his forward swing and fell to the ground face first "Aaaahhh *slam*...mphmph mmmm" he screamed and then gave a muffled grumbles as his head ended up buried in the ground with his legs flailing around *giggle*. Hearing a girl giggle he pulled his head out of the ground and looked at the newcomer. It was the platinum blonde girl that is in his class and she was trying to hide her giggles at the ridiculous scene she just saw "I told you! My daddy told me about it before".

Looking at the girl he realized that the girl wasn't really making fun of him, she was just laughing because what he just did was funny and he didn't feel bad around her "Sorry, I never knew about that hehe" he said a bit embarrassed rubbing the back of his head "hi...um my name is Naruto" after a few seconds the girl stopped laughing and with a hand stretched out, she introduced herself "Hi Naruto I'm Yamanaka Ino". Shaking her hand he couldn't help but noticed something "you kinda smell like flowers".

Blushing a bit at the spontaneous complement Ino shook her head "that's because my family owns a flower shop and I help out a lot"

Hearing this Naruto got really excited "really!? That's so cool! Do you know of the flower that is purple on the inside with the white tip and the yellow attena things?"

Ino paused for a second to think about the flower "it sounds like you are talking about Purple Tiger Lillies, if you want you can over to my family shop to see if that is what you are talking about, but how do you know about them?"

Naruto started to jump up and down in excitement for a bit before he spoke again "I know about them because I found some in the forest and thought they smelled really pretty! And do you really mean that I can go to your shop?"

Ino had to giggle a bit more at the energy that the blonde boy had "yeah you can come whenever you want"

The two blondes spent the rest of the break talking about flowers, which consisted of Naruto describing the flowers that he found and Ino giving the names of flowers, what they meant and how to take care of them

And so, a new friendship was made

* * *

~One week later after school~

Naruto was walking through the streets of Konoha with a smile on his face as he was heading towards the Yamanaka Flower shop. After a week in the new class he had made a few new friends. The first 2 he made were Shikamaru and Choji who were introduced to him by Ino since their fathers were friends.

Shikamaru was easy to get along with since they both took naps during class, Shikamaru because he said it was too troublesome to pay attention and Naruto because he subconsciously thought he wouldn't be getting any help in understanding the material and learning properly so there was no point paying attention. He really got along with Choji when they all went to Ichiraku and ended up have a competition on how many bowls they could eat and even if Naruto knew he would not be able to buy anything else for a while with the little amount of money he got from his monthly Stipend he really had fun with Choji.

Another friend he made was Shino, when he saw several bugs walking on his(Naruto) arm and all he did was watch them crawl on his arms until Shino spoke, telling him they enjoyed eating his chakra. The conversation became one where Naruto asked about the beetles and Shino telling him how they are used in his clan jutsus.

His final friend was Kiba, although it was more like a friendly rivalry. When the first interacted Akamaru growled at him with a challenging glare (for a puppy) and Naruto unconsciously returned both of them, after a few seconds Akamaru bowed a bit and began to lick attack the boy much to Kiba's confusion. Kiba had trouble with Naruto since to him he had a small smell of fox and with Akamaru's bowing scene, Naruto just didn't sit well with him so he challenged him to races a lot but after have an even win lose ratio they got along a bit better but they always tried to one up each other.

He continued to walk through the streets deep in thought only vaguely aware of the glares and words thrown his way.

"Look at that demon looking so happy and walking around"

"Do you think it's plotting something?"

"We should do something, before it gets the chance to do it"

"Look! It's going to the Yamanaka shop, we should wait till it leaves"

As Naruto enter he met up with Ino's mother Noriko Yamanaka. She has pupiless light brown eyes and brown hair which is tied into a bun with a red ribbon in it with strands framing both sides of her face, hanging over her ears from behind them. She has fair skin,and wearing a dark teal elegant dress, which had an aquamarine coloured gem below the collar.

"Good afternoon! Welcome to the Yamanaka…..ah Naruto-kun, it's nice to see you again" she said in a very polite tone as she turned around to see who came in

"Hi Yamanaka-san, I wanted to get the lilies that Ino said she would set up for me" Naruto said with a bow since the first time he met her she told him it's better to be polite to people when you are asking for something, trying to instill some manners into the young boy.

Thinking for a second, Noriko remembered that her daughter had made an order for someone to pick up around this time "ah so you are the one that made the order, ok please give me a second as I go retrieve them". Walking to the back of the store, she found the potted plant ready for pickup and brought it back to Naruto "here you go dear, now do you still have that book I gave you on how to take care of them?" seeing the boy nod she couldn't help but smile at the happy energetic boy and handed him the plant as he handed her the money for it since he opted to pay upon pickup.

"Thank you Yamanaka-san, I promise to take real good care of them" he said with a smile and walked out the shop with the plant in his hands.

As he walked out his smile was so bright that he could replace the sun especially with his sun-kissed blonde hair. So happy that he didn't even notice the ever growing mob of civilians behind him and followed him as he entered an alley to get home faster since it was on the other side of the village in the red light district.

He walked through the alley for a few more minutes until he was hit on the back of the head but as he fell he was able to hold tight to the pot and spun so he fell on his back. Looking up he finally noticed the the mob that found him in the alley and from past experiences he knew what they wanted so he got on his feet and rand with the plant held closely to his chest. Passing through alleys a yelling for help, Naruto made sure that anything that was thrown at him would not hit his new plant but his luck seemed to end when he got to a dead end. Now he knew that they would hurt him but a small bit of a protective instinct told him he needed to keep the plant safe so he ran to face the corner with the plant in his arms as the mob got ready to start beating on him.

As the mob were about to start everyone heard a voice from above them "**Sen'ei Jashu**". Afterwards,3 men that were about to attack were wrapped up by snakes, shocking the rest of them.

Landing in between Naruto and the mob was Anko Mitarashi who saw the mob chasing the boy while she left the dango shop and in anger chased after them from the rooftops.

Anko is a fairly tall woman who has a slender frame with light brown, pupiless eyes. Her purple hair is styled in a short, spiky ponytail, wearing a mesh bodysuit that covers her from her neck down to her thighs, a tan overcoat with pockets on each side, a dark orange mini-skirt, a dark blue belt, pale grey shin guards, a Hitai-ate wrapped on her forehead, and a small pendant that looks like a fang.

"Look it's the Snake Whore!" yelled one of the men

"It figures that she would protect the demon. A monster protecting a monster" sneered another male

"We should take this chance to get rid of them both" said a woman in the crowd

Anko pissed that this group would sink so low as to attack a kid would have incinerated the mob with a Katon jutsu but deciding not to seeing that they will be getting their punishment in a few seconds. "I wouldn't get your hopes up since you guys are about to be dealt with" she said with a smirk as she pointed behind the mob.

As they all turned to see what Anko was pointing at they all gaped at the Anbu squad standing behind them "all of you are under arrest for attempted assault on a minor and a Tokubetsu Jōnin!". Before any of them could make a move they were all hit in the back of the neck and collapsed unconscious.

Anko seeing that they were dealt with turned back to the kid who was still facing the corner "hey it's alright, they won't hurt you anymore". Seeing that it was the same kid she heard got attacked by a mob before , one she dealt punishment to, she couldn't help but feel bad for the kid, since like him she was also treated badly by the villagers because of something beyond her control.

Turning to the woman Naruto saw that the mob was being taken away "thank you nee-chan for saving me and Tilly".

Anko looked around but saw no one else and asked "Tilly?"

Naruto brought up the potted Tiger Lily and said "yeah, Tilly, I wanted to name it since it will be staying at my house from now on".

Chuckling at how the kid acted Anko made a decision that she would try to watch out for the kid when she could, since throughout all that he went through, he could still smile like nothing happened "ok kid My name is Anko, how about I take you home".

And with a smile Naruto responded "Hi Anko-neechan, I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I'm going to be the future Hokage Dattebayo"

* * *

Longest chapter yet. I had the idea of splitting this into multiple chapters but I felt like it all meshed together well since it was the meeting between naruto and these characters

A few things that I want to adress

I did some research on the leaf council and found that it only consists of Hiruzen, Danzo, Homura and Koharu but because in other fics there is a civilian council and shinobi council, which to me makes more sense for the village issues, I went with that

Since I didn't remember the series completely I looked up some of Danzo's actions and I can say that he is an ass and is only out for himself regardless of whether he says it's for the leaf village

For Ino's mother, since she doesn't have a name in the anime or manga that I could find, I gave her, her voice actresses name from the Japanese dubbing since I couldn't think of anything

And for Anko, she doesn't know about the transformation, the only ones that know are Hiruzen, Iruka, Kakashi, Tenzo/Yamato Inoichi and a few other Anbu members but everyone other than Hiruzen think that it was reversed instead of hidden

Next chapter will be another time skip to the graduation

Please read and review


	8. I'm sorry

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

**"Demon/Summon speech"**

**'Demon/Summon thoughts'**

**Jutsu name**

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

Before we start everyone is wearing their canon clothes, they might get a wardrobe change but unlikely except Naruto who I'm still thinking of his new clothes but that's for later

Also please read the notes at the bottom for some things I wish to bring up

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

Chapter 8: I'm sorry

Konoha never looked better to Hiruzen than it does right now. The sky was the brightest blue, the clouds were the purest white, and the birds were chirping. Hiruzen was enjoying the sight as he looked upon the streets as he was standing on the roof of the Hokage tower and smoking his pipe 'today has to be the most perfect day I have had in a long time, all the paperwork is done, no issues from the council, no meetings, and the civilians are going about their business as normal' he thought as he gave a relaxed sigh and smiling.

"NARUUUUTTTTOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"GET BACK HERE YOU ROTTEN BRAT"

"HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO THE HOKAGE MONUMENT"

Hiruzen's peaceful moment was disrupted by the shouts of several of his shinobi jumping from the rooftops and the laughing of his surrogate grandson. Looking at the jumping group of five shinobi and academy students. Hearing what they said he turned around to look at the Hokage Monument and just stared at the Hokage's faces "how did he even do any of that when there is a security team that patrols above it in front of it and on the outer walls which have the perfect view of it?"

The faces carved into the mountain that make the Hokage monument were painted with different joking faces.

The first Hokage had its eyes painted to look like it was winking, teeth painted to look like a smile in a big smile with a shine on them and a painted hand next to it giving a thumbs up. 'Oh kami, why did he have to choose that face? Thankfully Gai is at the moment out on a mission.' he thought with a shiver

The second Hokage had googly eyes and tongue sticking out with the word "fool" written on the forehead 'a very big contrast to how he was in person' he thought with a chuckle

The Third Hokage's face was painted with a big goofy smile and perverted eyes with a painted blush and nose bleed and on closer inspection on the base of the beard was a small message saying "sorry Jiji". He couldn't help but chuckle 'at least he left that message but why did he make me look like a pervert?' he thought with anime tears streaming down his face

The fourth Hokage was the most interesting as it had three whisker marks on each of its cheeks, a foxy grin and eyes painted to look like they are closed 'could it have been anymore ironic that he chose the fourth to do that to, and Naruto aims to surpass you Minato…'

As he turned back to the village and seeing Naruto outrun his shinobi and several of his Anbu like it was a simple task, Hiruzen couldn't help but think 'you are truly unpredictable, both in your actions and the way your life has become…..'

* * *

Naruto continued to hope from rooftop to rooftop outrunning the high ranking shinobi while laughing and taunting them "are you even trying to catch me, cause this is too easy" he said as he threw a paintball at them hitting one of the Anbu

"Your gonna regret that when we catch you, you brat!" yelled the Anbu as he wiped some of the paint off his mask

"bleh try harder." Naruto said as he pulled down on his eyelid, stuck out his tongue and tossed a smoke bomb to the ground

"Aaaah what the hell, my eyes burn! And why the hell am I so itchy! What the hell did he put in that smoke?!" screamed one of the Jonin chasers while the rest of the group agreed and started to scratch themselves furiously

"Better question! Where is that little gremlin, I'm going to hogtie him and drag him to the Hokage after this" the Anbu leader said as he noticed that the boy was gone

"Spread out! Find him!" he said as they all jumped into different directions in search of the boy

Down below on street level was a three-tailed fox(a bit smaller than 12-year-old normal Naruto) laughing as he looked at the shinobi get further away 'yet again I win! Anbu: 11, Naruto: 163'. As he calmed down his laughing and started walking away, he was about to leave the area until he was grabbed by the scruff of his neck and then brought up face to face with Iruka.

"Naruto! What do you think you're doing?! You are suppose to be in class right now, instead, I find you causing problems yet again for the Anbu and desecrating the Hokage monument!" hearing a few grumbles from the fox he continued "after class, you are going to clean up the monument until all the mess you made is gone as well as give an apology to the Anbu squad that were chasing you". Naruto begins to struggle *whine* "don't give me that! You caused it so you must be punished for it. Now undo the henge so we can get back to class" Iruka finished 'I really wish you would stop doing that henge, it's dangerous in this village' he thought as he dropped the fox who then became engulfed in a poof of smoke.

Standing there was 12 year old Naruto in an orange jumpsuit that had a white collar with blue encircling his shoulders, a white swirl with a tassel on the left side, and a red Uzumaki crest on the back. He stood there with his arms crossed as he mumbled: "how the heck do you keep finding me that easily?"

Iruka gave an amused smile as he patted the boy on his back to move him forward "don't worry about that let's go, so we can get to your punishment faster" and with that, they began to walk back to the Academy "we will be able to make it just in time for the start of "History of Konohagakure".

Hearing this just made Naruto grumble even more 'Iruka: 244, me:...0. Damn it'

* * *

~Iruka's classroom~

Naruto was back in the class, trying to listen to the history of the Shinobi, well…...at least he would if he wasn't sleeping through the lesson. When he got back to class almost everyone, through chuckles, began to ask how he painted the monument and all he said with a cocky grin was "I'm just that awesome". Although not everyone gave a somewhat positive response

* * *

_Flashback_

_As Naruto was walking through the class to his seat, he heard a voice that grated his nerves "you shouldn't waste time on something so stupid dobe". He couldn't help but stop to retort at the one responsible "like you could do better Teme. no way you could even get close to doing something as awesome as that!" he said as he stared at Sasuke Uchiha, someone he could never and will never get along with,_

_Naruto hated Sasuke for his high and mighty attitude, expected everyone to bow down at his feet and give him everything that he wanted, something that made Naruto sick to his stomach as he believed that everything should be earned and never given just cause you demand it. It was bad from their first interaction which was when Naruto was staring at Sasuke's head and said "look the duck on Sasuke's head just wiggled its tail!". Safe to say it only got worse as time went on._

_"Why would I waste my time trying to one-up you, I already know that you aren't anything special, just a clanless loser that doesn't deserve to be a shinobi." he said with a cocky smirk on his face_

_With that said Naruto jumped onto the desk facing Sasuke glaring straight into his eyes. It became a glaring contest with everyone in the classroom cheering for a fight with a lot of them telling Sasuke to beat up the "dobe"._

_Iruka was about to use his **Big head jutsu** until heard Naruto start to speak in a low tone but loud enough for everyone to hear "You may think that you are special just because you are the "holy" Uchiha but you are nothing more than a spoiled brat who doesn't deserve anything you got. Why don't you live the life of someone who has to struggle every day for a bit and see how long you last without your status?" and with that, he jumped off the desk and walked back to his seat._

_As he was walking, Sakura who was standing a few feet away, walked up to Naruto with her fist raised "Naruto-Baka, how dare you speak to Sasuke-Kun like that!" he winced from the loud tone of the girl before he saw the fist aimed for his head. Before the fist made contact he used Kawarimi to replace himself with Sasuke._

_*BANG* and with that Sasuke was slammed into the ground, much to his fangirls dismay and a few other's amusements_

_Naruto just jumped out of Sasuke's seat and went to his seat in the back and laid his head down for a nap, unaware of a Hinata watching him with a smile on her face 'Naruto-Kun'_

_~Flashback end~_

* * *

Naruto was woken up with some harsh shaking. Opening his eyes he saw that it was Ino standing next to his desk with an angry look on her face "did you have to start that fight with Sasuke-Kun!?" she said as she tapped her foot.

Burying his face into his arms with a groan "I didn't start it Ino-chan, you saw it so you know I didn't" he said though it was slightly muffled

Ino huffed cause she knew that she couldn't retort to what Naruto just said "well any way class is over and Iruka-sensei said you have to meet him at the gate right now" she said with a shake of her head

Once again Naruto groans "damn it, I don't wanna clean up the paint" he whined as he got up and walked towards the door with his shoulders slumped

With a roll of her eyes, she walked in front of him with her hands on her hips and her ponytail swaying behind her "if you didn't want to clean it, you shouldn't have done it" she scolded him but in her head, she was chuckling at the prank because she also thought it was funny

Naruto, had his eyes following the swaying ponytail as it went back and forth "still don't wanna" he said before he shook his head and started to walk faster to meet up with Iruka "anyway I better go do it, so I'll see ya later Ino-chan" and when they made it outside he ran off

Ino shook her head at his childish behavior "Baka." she said with a smile before she remembered something and shouted out "Oi Naruto! Don't forget about your order, it is ready for pickup whenever you want!"

Looking back as he ran he yelled back "Thanks Ino-chan! I'll pick them up when I can!" and turned back and ran faster to the academy gates.

* * *

~Hokage monument 25 minutes later~

"You know this would go faster if you helped me" he grumbled. Naruto was hanging by a rope wrapped around his waist, a bucket of cleaning liquid attached to hi ship and a scrubber in his hand as he tried to remove the paint on the monument.

Looking down from the ledge above Naruto, Iruka looked at his dangling student "this is a punishment Naruto, not volunteer work, so you must be the one to clean it". Hearing grumbles and complaints from the boy he decided to at least lift his spirits a bit "when you finish this up I'll take you to Ichiraku's afterward." and with a big smile on his face, Naruto doubles his efforts just to get to his Ramen faster.

* * *

~ichiraku Ramen 3 hours later~

Naruto was slurping up the last of his thirteenth bowl of chicken ramen with a big smile on his face "ah~ that hit the spot" he said as he pats his somewhat inflated stomach.

Iruka just watch the boy as he had finished his first bowl a little bit ago and knew that it would be better not to spend it on a second bowl "I still can't believe that all you ever eat is ramen, you should really eat things other than that"

"I would try and tell you not to listen to something like that but I do have to say that it would be better for you to eating something else once in a while." said Ayame as she came back to the counter with the check

Looking at the two, Naruto gave his foxy grin "but I do eat other things, I go hunting on my own a lot in the forest and get some berries, apples, and fish!"

Both of them were shocked hearing this but Iruka was worried as he didn't know that Naruto had been going to the forest "Naruto, you shouldn't be going to the forest! It's dangerous to go out there without anyone with you"

Naruto just turned to Iruka with his smile dropping a bit "but I've been doing it for like three years...I think" 'since a lot of stores kick me out when I come in'

Ayame seeing Naruto's mood drop a bit walked around the counter and pulled him into a hug "aw Naruto, you shouldn't feel bad about this, we are just worried about you, so stop all those negative thoughts, or I will rub your whiskers again" she said with a small giggle at feeling Naruto stiffen a bit at the rubbing whiskers part.

A week after the Anbu came looking for the boy, Naruto had wobbled into the stand and tripped onto the ground and gave a frustrated groan. Ayame got to her knees thinking that he was hurt only to see that he wasn't injured but Naruto told her that he was having a really hard time walking. It got so bad that he was about to cry a bit, but Ayame picked up the boy and put him on her lap and hugged the boy, as well as wipe the tears off his cheeks with her thumb and much to her shock, he began to purr as she did it. He liked it so much that he didn't even realize he was doing it and leaned into her hand as she continued to rub his whiskers. It was only after she stopped that he realized he purred and didn't know why but before he could say anything she started to do it again, and after a few minutes of it he fell asleep on her lap. Ayame couldn't help but smile at how cute the boy was. After he woke up he told her not to do it again before he left, although she never promised she wouldn't do it again.

"Ayame-nee-chan please don't do that, it's really embarrassing and I don't want anyone else to know about that!" he grumbled with a small blush on his face

Iruka, confused about what it was but not wanting to pry decided to speak up "Ahem, Naruto you should head home soon, it's late and you should get some rest for the graduation exam tomorrow".

Eyes shooting open as big as dinner plates, he looked at his sensei "WHAT!? That's tomorrow?!"

Iruka gave him a deadpan expression not believing the kid "Naruto you should keep track of these things and if you didn't sleep through my class you would have known about this and I really hope that you have been studying for the written test and practicing your jutsu"

Rubbing the back of his head, he sheepishly nodded "yeah I have been practicing to do it every night" he said not mentioning that he hasn't studied at all but at least he has been practicing his clone jutsu

Nodding his head Iruka left the money for the meal "good, you should do fine with it then, I look forward to giving you your Hitai-ai tomorrow" he said as he waved goodbye and started walking home

Naruto, watching his sensei couldn't help but sigh 'I really hope I can make it work tomorrow, especially after all the time Iruka-sensei spent helping me with the jutsu' he thought heading out of the stand

Ayame seeing how Naruto was acting decided to give him one more hug "it's ok Naruto you will get it right this time, just focus on what you need to do and it will work" she said as she began to rub his whisker for a few seconds to make him feel better

Hugging her back Naruto was grateful to Ayame for looking out for him "thanks Ayame-nee-chan *purr*" breaking the hug with a blush he gave his goodbye as he made his way home

* * *

~Naruto's apartment~

Naruto, now home, cleaned and in his Pajamas with his goofy nightcap, was heading to his bedroom. Heading to his little sleeping corner he paused for a second before deciding "I think I will sleep in my little sanctuary tonight". Grabbing a broom and walking to the center of his bedroom, he used the broom handle to poke a certain spot on the ceiling, which cause a piece of it tied to a small rope to fall where he poked. Pulling on the rope, a piece of the ceiling was pulled with it showing an attic-like area. Crouching on all fours he hopped up grabbing the ledge and pulled himself up. In the area was a selection of plants all around the room which is about half the size of his bedroom and a really low ceiling, enough room for him to walk on all fours

He found this area on accident when he first tried using an enhanced jump used for roof hopping and hit his head really hard in the center of his bedroom and made a hole. Afterward, he used a chair and some boxes he had found out, after a lot of falling, he saw that the area was an empty area that separates his ceiling and the roof. After some thinking he made this a little corner for himself, and a place to put his growing collection of plants and flowers that he got from Ino's family shop and from the forest. He had cut a hole on the slanted wooden portion of the and got the Hokage to get him a window for the hole making an excuse saying it was a replacement for a broken window and making a door out of spare wood he had. After some time it became his little bit of nature and he found himself often sleeping in it so he had made another sleeping area, next to the window. He never had to worry about the landlord finding out since the man didn't even check up on the apartment and the rent was paid for through the stipend.

Making sure to close the door to his natures corner he walked on all fours to the pillow and blanket, removing his pajamas so he is just in his boxers and moved under the blanket, curled up on the pillow and began to think 'Rama-san, I wish you were still here to talk to, I'm really nervous about tomorrow, what if I fail again like the last two times, what I don't graduate with my friend…..I miss having you around…' and with that last thought, he fell asleep.

* * *

~Iruka's class the next morning~

Naruto was actually really early to class this day because he was extremely nervous and sat in the second row, third column. He had been trying to get his nerves to calm down but with everyone else in the class being just as nervous it was worse like he felt everyone's nervousness added to his own.

'It's ok, it's ok….. it's ok, breath, I can do this, I can do this, it's just another step to becoming Hokage, and you won't let anything stop you' he thought trying to calm himself

"Jeez, I can smell the stress rolling off you". Turning his head to see who it was, he saw it was Kiba

"Yeah whatever mutt, I'm just excited to get my Hitai-ate and become a genin," he said with his normal bravado

"Hah if you can become a genin that it should be a breeze for me and Akamaru" *Arf* Kiba said with his puppy Akamaru that was on top of his head to bark in agreement

Looking at Kiba, he stood face to face with him "ple~ase, I'll breeze through it so quickly, you'll be eating my dust in your dog bowl"

Both growling at each other in their own way for a few seconds until Naruto stopped as he heard them coming. Unzipping his jacket a bit and reaching into the inner pocket he pulled out two sets of earplugs and a small pair of ear mufflers. Giving the second pair of earplugs and ear muffler to Kiba, who took them and put the plugs in his ears and put the mufflers on Akamaru, Naruto put in his pair and looked towards the door, waiting for them to come through.

A few seconds later they ran through the door "I WIN INO-PIG" "NO WAY FOREHEAD, I OBVIOUSLY WON" Sakura and Ino had barged in after another one of their races to see who would sit next to Sasuke. They have been doing this for the two years that he had been in the class and learned really quickly about the shouting, hurting his ears and it only got worse as time went on as his hearing kept improving for an unknown reason.

*THUD*

As the two kept arguing they stopped when they heard a loud thud and turned to see Naruto with his hands over his ears wincing in pain from the shouts. Ino's shouting he could handle a bit since it was muffled but Sakura had some sort of pitch that hurt even if it came in muffled from the earplugs. Ino feeling a bit guilty as she knew his hearing was good and Sakura just huffing thinking he was just showing off

Behind him at the final row was Hinata looking worriedly at the boy and wanting nothing more to go to him and see if he was alright and needed help. For four years she had obeyed the order to stay away from him but she regretted it every day and was close to just ignoring it and be friends with him once again but was too afraid to do it so she just watched him from a distance, seeing how he pushed himself hard to get something right and smile at the world regardless of anything bad happening as she saw a few times. She started moving to go to him but when she saw Kiba patting him on the back and Akamaru licking his face, she sat back in her seat looking down at her desk 'Naruto-kun'

As all this was happening Sasuke got to the doorway to see Ino and Sakura standing there "you're in my way" he said in an annoyed tone and moved forward as they moved out of his way. As he made his way to his seat, he looked towards Naruto who was rubbing his ears to ease the pain 'che, dobe' he thought as he sat down and crossed his fingers in front of his face and just sat there ignoring everyone.

* * *

Naruto was standing outside with the rest of the class as he waited for his name to be called for the Shurikenjutsu. He felt like he did ok on the written exam and was a little more confident about this portion of the exam. All of his friends apart from Ino, who haven' gone yet, passed the Shurikenjutsu although Shikamaru only got the 6 out of 10 which was the bare minimum to pass.

Sasuke was called up and as he walked to the starting point as all his fangirls starting cheering for him, much to Naruto's dismay as he began to roll on the ground holding his ears. Naruto didn't even pay attention to Sasuke's score as he was clenching his eyes as every time he threw his projectile the fangirls kept screaming until Kiba and Ino were able to get his attention and pointed at Naruto's pair of earplugs that Kiba was able to get from his pocket, which he quickly swiped them and put them in and although he still heard the loud noise he could watch the rest of Sasuke's exam.

After Sasuke finished he walked back like it was nothing, he looked at Naruto and sneered "beat that Dobe" and then walked passed him.

Naruto didn't even know what the Uchiha's score so he wouldn't even know what to beat, but when he thought of it he felt like he should do his best just so he could pass. Walking to the starting mark ignoring the jeering and booing him, but thankfully he still had his earplugs still in his ears so he didn't hear a thing from them except for a pink-haired girl that kept screaming what she was saying.

Once he made it and got the practice pouch with the shuriken and kunai meant for the test, he took a deep breath and looked at the four target dummies. He grabbed three shurikens in each hand and swinging his right arm tossing the first three towards one of the test dummies and two hitting fatal points, one in the neck and another hitting the forehead and the third hitting the leg area. Seeing the first throw done he swung his left arm, in the same manner, getting almost the same hits for the second dummy apart from the third hitting the second dummy's stomach area.

After his first two throws he decided to finish up his shuriken throws, putting the last four, two in each hand, he threw them at the same time in a criss-cross manner at the last two dummies. The first dummy was hit in both shoulders by two shurikens and the other dummy was hit in the heart and missed the last one.

He pulled out his five kunai from the practice pouch and tossed them one at a time with each hitting his intended target, one in the head one in each shoulder parallel to each other, one in the stomach and one in the center of all four. Sighing a bit as he was able to do good on this and turned around just to see everyone looking at him like he grew two extra heads. "...what?"

He saw Iruka was speaking but he heard nothing and just stood there looking at his sensei. After a few more seconds his mind finally caught up with him "ah" and pulled out his earplugs which caused everyone to face fault at his action

"Naruto-baka, you must have cheated! There is no way you could have gotten better than Sasuke-Kun!" ranted Sakura making Naruto wish he didn't take out his earplugs.

Iruka who regaining his composure as well and cleared out his hearing with his pinky finger turned towards Naruto "Naruto, I have to ask how did you get that good in Shurikenjutsu?"

Naruto looked at his sensei "I used kunai for fishing a lot and kept practicing when they hopped out of the water and for shuriken, I used them to get apples from trees that are too tall for me to grab, back when I couldn't use the chakra jump."

Iruka had to nod his head a bit understanding that the moving target of fish would help improve accuracy and make it easy to hit a stationary target and hitting a small target like an apple doing the same thing "well done Naruto, it terms of score you got second place but you were the only one to throw multiple shuriken at a time and made them evenly separated"

Hearing that he got second place put a smile on his face but it dropped quickly hearing he fangirls saying that the "dobe" shouldn't have gotten that score so close to their "Sasuke-Kun". He just shook his head and went to take a seat with his friends and saw that Ino was next "good luck Ino-chan". He said to the girl who just gave him a wave

Naruto gave a sigh thinking the Academy jutsu exam was next 'I have to do it right this time, not only to graduate with everyone but because it's my last chance' he thought, thinking back at his second attempt that he was goaded into it by the teme who kept pushing his buttons

* * *

~Iruka's class 25 minutes later~

Naruto felt like he was about to have a panic attack, sweating bullets and shaking his leg. Staring at the door, to him, hearing everyone being called seemed like a countdown to his doom.

After a few more minutes he was called into the exam room and so he went to the room he dreaded.

Walking into the room he stood in front of Iruka and Mizuki "ok Naruto-Kun, the first jutsu you need to perform is the henge jutsu…..and please keep it human" after hearing this from Iruka, Mizuki looked at him in a bit of confusion "What do you mean Iruka?". Turning to his teaching aid Iruka answered: "Naruto turned himself into bears and tigers before in several of his pranks." He then gave Naruto a deadpan look "you even scared off a few of my years when you walked up to me looking like a lion ready to pounce on me to make me lunch."

Naruto looking sheepish and chuckled rubbing the back of his head "sorry about that Iruka-sensei. Ok I will keep it human"

Nodding his head Iruka grabbed his clipboard and pen ready to give his marks "ok Naruto go ahead"

Naruto thought about who to change into until he was engulfed in a poof of smoke and out of it came Naruko: a very curvy woman with high c-cup breasts (I think), tan skin and long blonde hair tied up in pigtails but what got the two men was that she was naked with small puffs of smoke hiding her nipples and lower region (I didn't think I would need to write this kind of thing but oh well, hope it's ok). After seeing this the two men were launched backward from massive nosebleeds. After they stuffed tissues into their nose the got back up to reprimand the boy only to stand up straighter when they saw the third Hokage standing there "Sir" Iruka said as Mizuki began to sweat with the Third Hokage here

"I must say I am disappointed in the two of you. How could you fall for something like that such a simple technique?" The third said getting Iruka to look down in shame until he heard the third start to laugh, looking up he saw that the third was on his knees slamming his fist into the ground trying to catch his breath. Iruka had never seen the elder Hokage give this kind of action before and was shocked when the Hokage was engulfed in smoke showing Naruto in his place still laughing and gasping for air.

With a big tick mark popping on his head Iruka moved to hit Naruto on his head from the prank he did during the exam "Naruto this isn't a game!" he said as he lifted his head, bringing it down to Naruto's head but much to his shock he didn't hit Naruto….he hit Mizuki.

Naruto felt the fist coming to his head and used the Kawarimi to switch with Mizuki and now sat in Mizuki's seat and laughed, even more, seeing Iruka hitting Mizuki. Seeing Iruka turn back to him and seeing that he was still angry, he sat there until Iruka got up right next to him

"Naruto, you have to take this exam seriously!" Iruka said about to slap Naruto this time

Mizuki was groaning after getting blindsided by the fist. Picking himself up from the ground he was shocked once again when he felt the back of his head being slapped hard enough to force his face into the desk.

Iruka just blinked at this and for a few seconds stood there looking at the groaning Mizuki and then realized that Naruto just did two Kawarimi one after another. Sighing he turns to Naruto who was still chuckling "well Naruto looks like you did both the Henge and Kawarimi….very well I might add" he said and quietly mumbled the last part with a blush "Anyway, you just need to do the clone jutsu and you will pass"

Hearing this Naruto stopped his chuckles and now felt really worried. Seeing the two back in their seats, he began to concentrate 'ok I can do this. You are able to do the other two easily so I can do this one too….please work' he thought as he closed his eyes, put his hands into a hand sign and focused on the jutsu. After a dark purple chakra faintly swirled around Naruto a puff of smoke appeared next to Naruto. Opening his eyes in hopes of seeing himself standing next to him, he was disappointed greatly seeing a white dead and melting clone that barely looked like him '...no'.

Turning to the instructors he saw the disappointed look on Iruka "I am sorry Naruto-Kun, but because of your scores on the written exam….. *sigh* you fail". Iruka could see how destroyed the boy was on the inside but he could not show favoritism and pass him just because he liked the boy. "Come on Iruka, surly we could bend the rules a bit and pass the kid. I mean he did do his best on the exam" said Mizuki giving what Naruto could tell was a fake smile. Turning to Mizuki Iruka said with a frown "I'm sorry Mizuki but we can't do that no matter who it is, it isn't right or fair to the other students" and with a sigh, he turned to Naruto "Naruto I'm sor…" only to see that Naruto had already left the classroom

* * *

~15 minutes later outside at Naruto's tree~

Naruto just sat there on his swing, away from all the parents congratulating their kids on passing but he could still hear some of them talking about him

"Look it's him"

"Good thing he didn't pass. I mean what were they even thinking letting it into the academy with our kids"

"I know, he should never have been allowed"

Hearing this and other comments of similar nature kept getting on Naruto's nerve 'why the hell do they keep acting like I'm nothing but a monster and just here to corrupt their kids! What did I even do to them, why SHOULD I GO THROUGH THIS, WH**Y ME HUH! WHY!'**

"Naruto?"

Hearing this he whipped his head around just to see Ino and surprisingly Hinata looking at him with worried looks in their eyes. They were quiet until Ino spoke up "are you ok?"

Seeing the Hitai-ai they both wore; Hinata wearing hers loosely around her neck and Ino wearing hers as a belt, he turned away to take a deep breath and turned back with his usual grin "yeah I'm fine, I just have to try again next year"

Seeing the shift Ino furled her eyebrows "no! You're not fine Naruto, you look like someone threw away one of your ramen cups" Ino jokes, since she knew about Naruto's love for Ramen

Naruto just got up from the swing, smile still on his face "it's alright you two, I'm fine. I was just thinking about how I'm going to handle another year at the academy." Turning away he started to walk away "anyway, you should go to your families and celebrate your graduation, don't waste your time hanging around me."

Hearing this Hinata couldn't help herself "Naruto-Kun!" Seeing that Naruto stopped and turned his head to look at her she gave a deep bow "I'm sorry!"

Not sure what she was really apologizing for, whether it be from ignoring him or his failure, it didn't really matter as he just gave a smile and waved "it's ok Hinata-chan" and then just continued to walk away

As the girls watch the boy leave they both had the same thought 'I'm sorry Naruto-Kun/Naruto'

Leaving the two behind, Naruto just walked passed the gate ready to head home until he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. Looking behind him he saw that it was Mizuki. He never liked the teaching aid, the guy always felt wrong to him and he still felt that way even now.

"Hey Naruto, I wanted to talk to you about something". Mizuki smiled at the boy

"What is it Mizuki-sensei?" Naruto asked as he turned to the man

"I actually wanted to tell you that there is still a way to graduate with the rest of your class" seeing the boy's eyes widen he continued "your scores were actually really close to passing and me and Iruka decided that you will be given an extra credit assignment that will allow you to pass, BUT!" he stopped the boy as Naruto looked about to scream out loud "this assignment will be set as a normal infiltration mission. You know how those are right?" seeing the nod yes he pulled out a slip of paper and finished "good, on this slip of paper are the instructions and rules for it. All you have to do is make sure that you're not caught. Got it?" "yep!" and with that Mizuki walked away with a dark smile on his face.

* * *

~Konoha forest 10:40 PM ~

Naruto was sitting in a clearing, looking through a massive scroll almost the same size as himself. After he read the instructions Mizuki gave him which were: to infiltrate the Hokage office and get the forbidden scroll, bring it to a certain point in the forest and learn one jutsu from it before Mizuki found him. Now he would normally think about this kind of thing especially since it was coming from someone that felt wrong, he was desperate to graduate with his friends so he did it without a second thought. And although he had some trouble with the Anbu still in the office when he entered as well as the Hokage walking in as well, a quick **Oiroke no Jutsu** and a couple of nosebleed fountains later, he was able to get the scroll and leave.

He had spent the last hour working on one jutsu which he completed and was now just reading the last bit of information for it "...retain the memories of clones, **Warning**: massive chakra consumption and it is recommended to not go beyond chakra limit or user runs the risk of extreme chakra exhaustion which could lead to death" Naruto was writing this down on a little notebook that he kept in his jacket meant for writing tips on plant/flower care

After putting the notebook back into his pocket, he sat down with the scroll rolled back up on his lap and was going to take a small breather before his sensei arrived. He didn't get the chance as he heard his name being called

"Naruto!"

Naruto turned his head to see it was Iruka calling him and got up from his sitting position with the scroll falling off him "Hey Iruka-sensei, you made it and I was able to learn the one jutsu need to pass the assignment!"

Iruka hearing this was extremely confused hearing that Naruto learned a jutsu and began to look at the boy and the surrounding area. Naruto looked tired and his clothing was covered in leaves, sticks, and dirt, and the surrounding area had the trees with some scuff marks and broken branches and a lot of the grass seemed flattened like someone was wrestling around "Naruto what are you talking about? What assignment?"

"The extra credit Assignment so I could Graduate." Naruto said with excitement and some confusion as it seemed that Iruka didn't know what he was talking about.

Original anger dissipating "Naruto there isn't any…" he stopped when he heard something flying through the air before he tackled Naruto to the ground as a large Shuriken flew over them. After making sure that they were safe, Iruka looked back to see it was Mizuki standing on a tree branch, looking down on them.

"Nice dodge Iruka and for saving the demon brat," he said in a condescending tone

"Mizuki what the hell do you think you're doing" Iruka shouting at Mizuki

As both Iruka and Naruto got up, Naruto looked in between the two "What's going on Mizuki-sensei, I thought you said that both of you made this test for me to graduate?"

Hearing this and after thinking of how Naruto wouldn't ever go against the village, he started to put the pieces together even if he didn't like the idea "Mizuki, did you trick Naruto into stealing the forbidden scroll?!"

Mizuki just laughed at Iruka before turning to Naruto 'I was planning on messing with him to get him to doubt Iruka and look guilty but for what he did to me in that exam room I'll just kill him…...but first.' Mizuki thought before he threw some kunai at Iruka forcing him to jump away to avoid them further away from Naruto.

Pulling out a kunai to defend himself he yelled at Naruto "Naruto you need to get out of here with the scroll, Mizuki lied to you, there is no extra credit assignment it was all a ruse!"

Naruto turning to Iruka, couldn't believe what he heard 'so Mizuki-sensei lied, there is no way for me to graduate. Why did I listen to him then….why did I listen to him if he felt so wrong'

With a dark smirk, he looked at the boy "hey Naruto want to know why the villagers hate you so much" getting the boy to turn to him he continued "didn't you ever wonder why everyone called you a monster and demon brat."

Iruka hearing this panicked "Mizuki no it's forbidden to speak of this!"

"Shut up Iruka! You see twelve years ago the demon fox Kyuubi attacked the village and killed everyone including Iruka's parents" he said looking at Iruka who had his eyes wide "and the fourth Hokage went to fight the demon but he didn't kill the fox, he weakened it and used some seal to make it look like a human baby and guess who that baby was"

Naruto stood there, eyes wide open and processing everything he just heard and was piecing what Mizuki was saying 'no, it can't be….'

Mizuki seeing the look in the boy's eyes started to pull the large shuriken off his back "that's right it was you, you ARE the nine-tailed fox that killed everyone that day"

Naruto was in shock 'that's why…...I'm a monster'

Seeing the boy in shock and unresponsive, Mizuki tossed the large shuriken "die demon!"

Iruka saw this and made a move to save Naruto until he felt a kunai hit him in the leg making him collapse onto the ground "no you don't Iruka hahaha". Iruka looked up just in time to see the large shuriken impact in Naruto in the center of his chest "NARUTOOOO!"

Mizuki laughing maniacally landing onto the ground "good the demon is dead and now that he is out of the way, I can deal with you. With this, I can just say that the demon killed you and I finished it off. After I give the forbidden scroll to Orochimaru-sama's spy, he will surely grant me power and status when I abandon this worthless village and join him"

Naruto sat there on his knees with both his hands dangling on his sides and head looking down at the shuriken that was stabbed in his chest with a far off look and light fading from his eyes as tears rolled down his cheeks 'so I am the Kyuubi. I killed all those people. It must be why I like to run on all fours, why my favorite henge is a three-tailed fox and why everyone hated me…...but why?' He lifted one hand to the shuriken 'why is it that Hokage-Jiji keeps treating me nicely, why does he always encourage me to look past the hate and the glares to see the good in the villagers' he lifted the other hand to join his first 'I don't want to die, I don't want to leave the people I care about, Ayame, Ino, Hinata, Shikamaru, Choji, Shino, Kiba, Jiji, Iruka-sensei….how can I say sorry for what I did if I die' he lifted his head and through darkening vision he saw Iruka at the mercy of Mizuki who kept beating on Iruka 'NO IRUKA-SENSEI…..I have to save him from Mizuki…..Mizuki, he's the one that caused this, he's the one that's HURTING IRUKA, IT'S HIS FAULT THAT IRUKA IS HURT AND HE IS A**BOUT TO PAY!'**

Mizuki had been beating on Iruka for a few minutes now "I always hated you Iruka! Always getting attention from everyone when you didn't even do anything worth the praise!"

Iruka was trying his best to block the hits but with his leg injured his movements were sluggish and sloppy. He kept up his defense until he tripped and fell back onto a tree and slid down tired from blood loss "you talk like I was stealing it from you when all I did was do my job" he said through heavy breathing and glared at his former friend "you think you will be able to get away with this, you think Orochimaru will give you power? If anything you're nothing but a pawn to him"

"Ha with what Orochimaru-sama's spy told me and everything I gave him, I'm guaranteed power and now that the brat is dead I will receive even more praise and power!" Mizuki said as he pulled out another kunai and lifted it over his head to finish off Iruka

He never got the chance to swing as he was launched extremely hard into a tree, hitting it hard enough to break a few of his ribs and him losing the air in his lungs and sliding down slowly on the tree his sliding. His sliding was stopped by a hand gripping hard on his throat and brought up a bit. Opening his eyes he was shocked to see Naruto with eyes so white they were glowing, and behind him on the ground was the shuriken with one of the blades slowly dissolving. Feeling the grip on his throat tightening he grabbed another kunai and cut the arm as he spoke, though it was barely heard "let go of me you fucking demon!"

Looking at the cut he gave, he was shocked to see that the skin around the cut started to peel off showing dark red and black energy underneath, and looking at the demons face he saw the same thing happen to it as well.

Looking to his left where the two were. Iruka was shocked seeing Naruto slam Mizuki into a tree but was even more shocked when he saw his skin start to peel off and red chakra started to swirl around the boy as well as burn his orange jacket and shirt. Iruka then saw through holes in his burning cloths a seal glowing brightly on his lower back. 'But isn't the seal supposed to be on his stomach?'. He began to panic when he saw that the seal looked like it was fading as well like it was being burnt from the edges. The seal continued to burn and Iruka saw changes happening to Naruto such as his ears being replaced with long fox ears in the same spot (ears on the side of his head in the same place as his normal ears, not on top of his head) and out of his tailbone came three long foxtails but soon the center tail began to get covered in the red and black energy. The skin on Naruto's arms and legs peeled off showing the energy as well, with Naruto's nails elongating and his legs becoming like hind legs.

Mizuki began to scream as the skin of Naruto's hand-peeled off and he came into contact with the energy which burned like slow-acting acid. Mizuki looked at Naruto's face that had all of its skin peeled off revealing a black face with his mouth replaced with a wide row of sharp-looking teeth made with the same red and black energy with bright white light coming from within and the eye holes with the same white light still showing a look of anger and the energy flowing into strand of the blonde hair.

**"You were going to kill Iruka-sensei!"** it spoke in a deep deep voice that sounded more like growls than speech shocking both of the Ningen **"you were going to kill one of the few people that showed me kindness, you were going to betray the village as well, and all for your own selfish reasons!"** it lifted its other claw and shoved it into Mizuki's shoulder causing him to give a silent scream since the burning on his throat causing him to lose ability to speak

With the burning on his throat, his hands as he tried to pry off Naruto's arm, and now his shoulder which was burning from the inside. With all the pain he was going through he began to wish for death just to stop the pain and as the hand in his shoulder was pulled out and he was released from the hand around his neck, he finally lost consciousness and dropped to the floor with massive burn marks on the afflicted areas.

**"You're not worth it, you scum"** Naruto said as he looked at the fallen form of the traitor

"Naruto?"

Hearing his name, Naruto turned to Iruka and with sadness in his eyes, he said **"Iruka-sensei ….I'm sorry."** before he collapsed to the ground unconscious and laid on his side with his back facing Iruka

Iruka just looked shocked at what he just saw. He looked at the boys back and saw seal which was on Naruto's normal skin finally burn away and with it gone Naruto was engulf in a ball of red energy and then a large puff of smoke and in Naruto's place was a fox the same size as Naruto but it looked a bit different to Naruto's henge. The fox still had three tails but all four of his paws and the tips of his tails were black with a bit of yellow fur in between where the black and red fur were to meet and black stripe connecting the top of his middle tail going up his back all the way to the base of his neck before splitting off to meet with the black that encircles his eyes.

Iruka just stared at the fox until a few minutes later an Anbu squad led by Anko landed in the clearing "Iruka! Where's the Gaki!" Anko yelled in a worried tone

Iruka just pointed to the fox. Anko looking toward where Iruka pointed saw the burned orange jumpsuit and ran to it and stopped when she got to her knees next to it and was shocked and in a soft voice she asked: "What happened to him?".

Some of the Anbu looked weary of the unconscious fox until they heard someone speak "Anbu calm yourselves" spoke the Hokage as he walked to the clearing and looked around at everything with his eyes lingering on Naruto and without taking his eyes off the fox he spoke "Iruka what happened here?"

Iruka spent the next few minutes giving a short version of what happened but made sure to say that Naruto was still Naruto. Hearing this the Hokage gave his orders "Anbu detain Mizuki and prep him for Ibiki, and I want one of you to take the scroll back to my office and guard it, another is to take Iruka to the hospital, and Anko…." Anko turned her head as she had gently picked up Naruto "you will be taking Naruto to the same hospital as I will have Hana come in to examine him since she is friends with the boy and I believe she is trustworthy enough for this but bring him in an empty room as to have some privacy for what must be discussed". With a nod, Anko got up with Naruto in her arms and began to walk in the direction of the village. Everyone followed their orders and Hiruzen was the last one left in the clearing 'it seems it's time to come clean with this to Naruto' and with that final thought he left the clearing

* * *

Deep in darkness, a low growl was heard as an eye opened up to see Naruto laying on the ground

**"...kit"**

* * *

DONE. wow what a chapter

**Edit notice 2/8/2020:** fixed up some of the dialogue and grammar errors. I'm sure that there might be a few left but at least this chapter has been cleaned up a bit

Ok some things to bring up

First things first Naruto is NOT OP he has the cloak but it isn't Kurama's it's his own, it does give him increased strength and dexterity but not the speed boost or the malleable body that he has in the show and he will not be using it a lot as he has no clue how to use it

About the Hokage monument, apparently in an early version of it Minato's face was not the fourth Hokage, in fact, it looked like a bland no-name character. Kishimoto didn't have Naruto being the fourth's son planned, it just happened later in the story and he went back to early artwork to change it to Minato's face when it came to be

I made it so Iruka helped Naruto out with his jutsu but since Iruka doesn't know the shadow clone or other clone jutsu he could only help so much and I felt like Iruka might not have known about the massive chakra levels of Jinchuriki so it just made it harder to help with the academy clones

Mizuki is an idiot (as you can tell I hate him)

For Naruto's cloak, I wanted it to be half chakra cloak/skin and half normal skin since the seal was still active and I moved the ears which normally everyone has on the top of his head to be in the same spot as his normal human ears since I haven't seen it done before and I know that in the anime the ears are on top of his head but at times it looked funny to me so I moved them

And for Naruto's fox form I wanted him to still look like a smaller Kurama but with a new fur pattern so there it is if you have suggestions on a change of pattern let me know as it might change when he gets older

Please read, favorite, follow and review


	9. A fox but not Kyuubi

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

**"Demon/Summon speech"**

**'Demon/Summon thoughts'**

**"Jutsu name"**

flashback/_memory_

~locations and transitions~ 

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

Chapter 9: A fox but not Kyuubi

Anko was standing in a hospital room with Iruka who was sitting in a chair in the corner bandaged up and a crutch leaning on the chair next to him, Hana who was sitting in one of hospital beds listening to the Hokage with wide eyes, Inoichi standing in the corner of the room with his arms crossed and the Hokage standing in front of the hospital bed occupied with an unconscious Naruto, who was still wearing the burnt orange jumpsuit, retelling what had happened four years ago. Anko was looking at the Hokage ready to hit the old man but kept still waiting for the old man to finish his story but she was somewhat thankful for the fox for saving the gaki, even if it was only to save its own ass.

As The Hokage got to the point of Mizuki tricking Naruto, Anko began to think of ways to torture the man but her thoughts stopped when she heard about Naruto's transformation and how he beat Mizuki. 'Why can't the kid ever get a break'. Her heart stopped when she heard the name of her former teacher "Orochimaru", but after hearing that there was a spy, she was even more sure that she needed to protect the gaki.

Hana didn't even know what to think about what she just heard. 'The little boy that, Kiba kept bragging that he kept beating, was turned into this….this….three tailed fox. I don't even know what's what anymore'. Looking at the fox and then back at the Hokage she became confused about what she was even doing there "um….excuse me, what am I doing here? I don't see why I was called here?".

The Hokage looked at Hana with a smile "I have called you because you are friends with the boy and I require him to be examined to make sure that he is alright as well as keep this situation a secret". Sighing tiredly he looked at the fox "and as he is right now, I cannot allow a medic to see him, so I ask you to exam him since you are friends with him and a well-practiced veterinarian"

Hana was unsure how much she could help but after hearing that, she walked up to the fox and began to exam him

Anko just stood there watching her friend Hana make sure the gaki was ok but after a few seconds she looked to the Hokage "what happened to that bastard Mizuki" she said with venom when saying the man's name

The Hokage took off his hat off and told them "Mizuki is being detained in the Anbu prison cell and the medics there are doing their best keeping him alive" after this was said everyone, other than Inoichi, looked at the Hokage in shock hearing that the traitor was dying "the wounds he had received are corrosive. The wounds on his hand and throat are healing but much slower than usual but the wound in his shoulder won't close and causing him great pain, like a poison, he is at this moment being observed so he can be interrogated later"

Anko didn't feel any sympathy for the man. He works for the snake Orochimaru, betrayed the village and planned on using the gaki as a scapegoat…..yep no sympathy.

Hana had finished examining Naruto after fifteen minutes and turned to the Hokage to give her analysis "from what I can tell he has massive chakra burns on his arms and legs as well as his head, his center tail and most of his back with the most severe on his lower back close to the base of his tails. He is also suffering from an interesting case of chakra exhaustion". The Hokage hearing this nodded his head from her to continue "as I recall, bijuu are constructs of chakra that have somehow gained consciousness and as well as elements that give each a specialized ability or attribute and from examining….um…..Naruto here, he seems to be mostly made of chakra with some organic structure but I can't tell what is organic.

The Hokage nodded his head in understanding "from what you have said, he is mostly made of chakra that is condensed into this form. It makes sense seeing how dense his chakra is already and how large his reserves had become that day".

Anko just shook her head "some of what you said went over my head. Just tell me he will be ok"

Hana looked at her friend with a smile "from what I can tell….yes he will be ok. In fact, he seemed to be healing much faster than any normal animal….oh um" she said a bit ashamed at calling Naruto an animal

Anko just chuckled at that and looked Hana in the eyes "it's ok, with the way he looks and the fact that the old man called in a vet, he might just call himself that in a panic". She said imagining Naruto reacting in a funny way from his new form

The Hokage was dreading how Naruto would react to this "I hope that he will not panic so much from this"

* * *

~Naruto's hospital room next morning~

Naruto began to shift in the bed he was laying in and realized that he was in a bed. He wanted to move but the shot of pain he got when he moved his arms told him not to 'ow! What the hell! Ugh was I attacked again? What happened yesterday?'. Naruto started to think about what happened the day before from waking up early, the exam, him failing, Ino and Hinata seeing if he was ok and then….' Mizuki! That bastard he tricked me! HE LIED TO ME, USING ME TO STEAL THE FORBIDDEN SCROLL, HE…..he…..he told me…' remembering this he had a few tears sliding down his face '...I'm the Kyuubi. I killed all those people'. He began to think that the villagers were right to do what they did to him after he killed all their families and friends *whine, yip*. After he heard the noise he made his eyes shot open and looked at himself and although he saw that his jumpsuit was ruined it was his form that shocked him. After seeing that he was a fox he began to panic.

Normally this wouldn't have shocked him so much since his favorite henge was a three-tailed fox but after remembering what he was told he didn't want to really believe it, he didn't want to be the fox, he wanted this to be a dream.

"Naruto, Naruto! You have to calm down! GAKI!". Naruto didn't hear what was said he kept panicking pushing himself back against the back of the hospital bed until he fell off, but still backing up until he was pushing against the wall still in a futile attempt to get away from his own body 'No! NO! It's not real! it's just a dream! A nightmare! I just need to wake up and I will still be normal, I just need to wake up!' He began to feel like he couldn't catch his breath like the last bit of air that he needed, was just out of reach.

This kept going until two hands grabbed the side of his head and moved to look into light brown eyes "you need to calm down Naruto and take a breath". Naruto knew those eyes 'Anko-nee-chan?' *whine yip, yip* "you're ok. You need to relax….". Naruto started to relax a bit but was still anxious about what happened

Anko saw that Naruto was starting to calm down but, she needed to get the Hokage and leave Naruto alone, which didn't sit well to her. Closing her eyes and taking a breath she looked back into Naruto's eyes "Gaki I need to go get the Hokage." Hearing this Naruto shook his head frantically in a negative fashion 'no no no, I don't want anyone else to know about this!'

"Naruto!" Anko shouted before she continued in a softer tone "It's ok. He already knows about this and he isn't mad or anything, just worried. So I need to go get him so we can talk."

Naruto calmed down and slightly nodded and Anko got up slowly and walked to the door. Once she got to the door she turned her head to Naruto who was sitting in the corner and with a small smile she said "I'll be back in a bit. Try to stay out of trouble gaki." and with that, she left and ran fast to get back as soon as possible

Naruto just sat on his haunches for a few minutes until he went to the hospital bed to grab the pillow and blanket with his mouth and with a little effort he pulled them off the bed and moved them to the corner and just laid down on the pillow and the blanket on top of him completing covering him and just stayed there.

* * *

~20 minutes later~

Hiruzen along with Anko walked into the hospital room but was confused since he didn't see Naruto in the room. "Naruto? Are you here?" he asked looking around the room. He heard some shifting in the corner and noticed a blanket moving. He saw Naruto move out from the blanket with his head hanging down and tails dragging on the floor with one in between his legs. "Ah Naruto, there you are." he said in a grandfatherly tone, getting Naruto to lift his head a bit to look him in the eyes

Naruto began to calm down even more with his Jiji and looked at the Hokage and Anko *yip, yip, yap, whine*. Naruto realized that he couldn't speak like this 'how can I speak to them! I can't speak like this! And this isn't a henge I can't change back to normal….or is this normal for me?'

Hiruzen noticed that Naruto is unable to speak like this, while Anko looked worried for the gaki. Hiruzen began to think for a bit on how to communicate with the boy and stared at Naruto until he thought of something "Naruto you are able to use the henge right?" Naruto hearing this looked up and nodded. "Are you not able to do a henge without hand seals?" he said as he looked at Naruto's front paws but then noticed something 'although from how his paws are formed he might still be able to use jutsu in that form'

Naruto realized that he practiced the henge so much that he could do it without hand seals. And with some concentration on his form, he became engulfed in a poof of thick smoke. After the smoke cleared, he was now standing in his human form, still wearing the ruined jumpsuit.

Hiruzen noticing this thought 'seems the henge only works on his physical form and not his clothes.' "Good, now I believe we can speak and go over some things that concern you."

Naruto looked up from looking at his hands and looked into the Hokage's eyes "...Jiji…...am I the Kyuubi?" Naruto asked still praying that it wasn't true but in the back of his mind he was thinking that it wasn't bad for it to be true because for some reason he didn't think the Kyuubi was bad despite the attack.

Hiruzen takes a deep breath before he went through some hand seals and slammed his hands on the wall placing a privacy seal while Anko closed the curtains. After this was done he began to speak "no Naruto, you are not the Kyuubi."

Naruto, after hearing this, was furious thinking he was being lied to "HOW THE HELL CAN YOU SAY THAT, YOU SAW ME. I WAS A FOX WITH MULTIPLE TALES AND AFTER WHAT MIZUKI SAID ABOUT THE FOURTH WEAKENING ME BY TURNING ME HUMAN. AND NOW YOU ARE LYING TO MY FACE!" he yelled with tears coming from his eyes that had turned into slits but remained blue.

Hiruzen was hurt hearing this, seeing that the boy had so much doubt in him and believing what the traitor said.

Anko didn't like seeing her little brother figure hurt so much from what happened to him all in one day. She was really hoping that Mizuki lived through his injuries, so she could torture the man herself.

Hiruzen then decided to tell him what had happened that night four years ago "Naruto, it is true that you turned into a fox. However, you are NOT the Kyuubi." taking a breath he continued "do you remember the time when you were having trouble walking normally four years ago?" seeing the boy nod he readied himself for telling the story "you see four years ago…"

* * *

Hiruzen told Naruto what had happened from what he was told from Inoichi including the truth about being the Jinchuriki as well as the semi-permanent henge that was placed on him "and because of what happened the seal was broken…."

Naruto was now sitting on the hospital bed, trying to process everything but some of his behavior made some sense now. After finally processing everything, something felt like it was missing but he knew that the Hokage told him everything he knew and accepted it.

Anko stood to the side looking at Naruto worried about how he would react to the story but she relaxed a bit when the kid just took a deep breath and flopped on his back and just looked at the ceiling. For a few seconds, he just laid there until he spoke "so my henge was the real me and my normal self is a henge"

Hiruzen just nodded with a "hmm" to confirm it

"Ok I guess, but now what do I do Jiji. I failed the academy three times and now I can't ever be the Hokage" he said with a tear falling from his eye 'nothing seems to go right in my life'. He would have kept up this trail of negative thoughts until he heard a chuckle coming from his Jiji. lifting his head looking at the old man he gave a confused tilt of his head

"Actually Naruto I have something from Iruka that he wanted to give to you and with a message." Hiruzen said as he reached into the sleeve of his Hokage robe.

Naruto got back up to his feet and walked up the old man and saw that he pulled out a hitai-ate and then heard Hiruzen continue "this was Iruka's. He wanted to give this to you with the message: 'congratulations on your field promotion and becoming a genin and I expect you to be at team assignments next week.'"

Naruto was stunned when he heard this. He slowly picked up the Hitai-ai and looked at it in his hand "...but …..I..."

He was knocked out of his stupor when Anko wrapped him in a one-armed hug while throwing her other hand into the air "Al~right Gaki! Now it's time to celebrate with Dango, Sake and more Dango!"

Naruto just looked at Hiruzen "How did he…..why did he….?"

Hiruzen just chuckled "I had told Iruka about the seal I placed on you. I think he assumed that I would be doing the same thing and thought ahead and although I will not be placing a seal on you, we can come up with something later on, but for now, be happy that you have graduated"

Hearing this Naruto and tying the Hitai-ai on his forehead he couldn't keep it in and with a big smile on his face, he pumped his fist into the air "YATTA" so excited that he dropped the henge and landed on all fours and gave a few yips of excitement with the Hitai-ai moving to hang around his neck.

Bouncing up and down in the room had caused his little notebook to fall out of his jacket pocket. Stopping to see what fell out, he henged back into normal and picked up the notebook noticing that half of it was burnt and missing "aw man. I had written down a bunch of tips on this and even the last bit from the jutsu that I learned from the scroll." after saying that he looked down to his clothes and grimaced "this was my last set of clothes too, now what am I going to do?"

Anko hearing this piped up placing a hand on the Gaki's head "consider it a good thing. This means that you can finally wear something decent!"

Hearing this Naruto mumbled, "why does everyone hate my outfit?" Looking back up at Anko he brought something up "none of the stores sell anything to me though. They kick me out or make the price of the stuff I want to buy too high."

Hiruzen made a mental note 'find the shops doing this and raise hell….I mean discuss store policies.'

Anko just slapped Naruto on the shoulder with a grin on her face "don't worry about it, I know just the place to go to and they sell great stuff to Shinobi. Just meet me in two days and I'll show you the place!"

With a smile, Naruto nodded "ok Anko-nee-chan!"

Hiruzen just smiled at the interaction between the two and was thankful that Naruto didn't pick up any of Anko's bad habits. After this thought came in his head he remembered something that Iruka informed him about last night and what Naruto said just a bit ago "Naruto, you said that you learned a jutsu from the forbidden scroll correct?" see the boy nod he asked, "what Jutsu was it that you learned?"

Wanting to show off a bit, Naruto extended his index and middle finger on both hands and crossed them together with one hand going vertically, and the other going horizontally **"****Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"** and with a poof of smoke there appeared another Naruto with a big grin n it's face and said "hi everyone! Now tell us….." while wrapping an arm around the real Naruto's shoulders and with the real Naruto continuing "...which one of us the real Naruto?"

Hiruzen was shocked that Naruto learned an extremely useful jutsu and didn't seem bother by the chakra requirement 'than again, he has massive amounts of chakra. And from what Iruka had told me the clone jutsu was the only one Naruto could not do' with a sigh he had one more thought 'Naruto would never have been able to do it, no matter how hard he tried, and it's forbidden for instructors to teach other versions of clones due to the student-teacher ratio and the shadow clone is too dangerous for many Jonin and Chunin let alone an academy student. But I should have known Naruto would be able to learn this. I'm getting too old if I didn't think of that.'

While Hiruzen was deep in thought the Naruto clone spoke up "Hey boss, don't you think you should ask about the note you wrote for this jutsu? You know the one before the warning on the chakra limit thing."

Hearing this Naruto began to think about what the clone had said and then it hit him "oh yeah, hang on." looking through the notebook hoping the note he was looking for wasn't completely burned away he found it " yeah here it is, hey Jiji what does it mean 'retain memories from the clone'?"

Looking at Naruto, Hiruzen tried to make it simple for Naruto to understand "it means that whatever your clone learns you learn it as well. For example: if you send your clone to speak to one of your friends. Then when your clone dispels or is dispelled you will remember the conversation it had with your friend or if you send it to read a page from a book, once it dispels you will remember what the clone has read."

Naruto and the clone stood there in aw, both slack-jawed until they looked at each other and high fived each other while saying at the same time "Cool Dattebayo!" And the clone dispelled and Naruto stood there "oh so that's how it works." he said as he got the memory of the clone

"Well Naruto, I believe that is everything that we needed to discuss so you are free to go home." Hiruzen said as he began to walk to the door "oh and don't forget to come in for your Shinobi license photo. Be sure to come in before the team assignments"

"Hai Hokage-Jiji!"

And with that, they all left to go about their business

* * *

~40 minutes later Ichiraku's~

Naruto had run all the way to the stand to tell Ayame and Teuchi about Graduating "Ayame-nee-chan! Teuchi-Ji-chan! Hey, guess what!"

Hearing the shouting Ayame walked out from the back to the counter while Teuchi leaned over to get a look at who it was "Hey Naruto boy where you been, I thought you would have been here yesterday to celebrate graduating". Looking sheepish Naruto Apologized about not showing up, but keeping everything that happened a secret.

Turning his head to face Ayame who was smiling at the boy "hey Ayame-nee-chan, look I got my own Hitai-ai" he said as he adjusted it a bit.

After hearing this Ayame grabbed him and pulled him into a tight hug "oh Naruto I'm so happy for you for finally graduating" she said and for her own little amusement, she began to rub his whisker marks.

"Ay…..ya…..me….w-wai….*pur~*" Naruto started to weakly protest but it didn't last long and for some reason, it felt much better than before and he even started to kick his leg much to Ayame's pleasant surprise.

'KAWAII!' she wanted to continue but knew she had to stop and was thankful that she did it behind the counter so no one saw what just happened.

After Ayame let him go he walked to his seat in a daze and softly said "chicken ramen please~" and then softly placed his head on the counter and gave a content sigh

Ayame chuckled a bit at seeing her little brother figure like this "coming right up Naruto-chan"

* * *

~Naruto's apartment that night~

After Naruto left Ichiraku's with a blush on his face and telling Ayame that it never happened, Naruto made it home and spent the rest of the day in his house trying to forget what Ayame did. It was night and Naruto was now getting ready to sleep in his little corner of nature. Now up in the small room and walking on all fours he remembered that he was still in his henge and released it. Once back into his fox form he shook himself 'it's a bit weird to think that this is now how I am normally'. He took a few steps until he tripped and realized that his tails were stuck in his pants and it was re~ally uncomfortable. After wrestling with his pajamas a bit, he finally removed the shirt, pants, and boxers 'Finally! Man, it almost felt like how I was when my arms and legs didn't feel right.' Now free, he made his way to his pillow bed and blankets, closed his eyes and fell asleep.

* * *

~unknown location~

Naruto slowly opened his eyes to find himself in a clearing surrounded by a forest, laying curled up with his tails as a blanket, in a small flattened patch of tall grass and under the moonlight. Lifting his head he started to look around even though he couldn't really see over the grass "where am I? How did I get here?" he said as he got up, stretching a bit before giving himself a shack

"..."

Turning to his left and ears perking up, he felt something calling him in that direction and although he was somewhat wary of it he followed his instincts and started running towards it

For ten minutes he ran and ran and ran through the forest, all the while the feeling, was getting stronger. As he kept running through the forest he finally came to a stop when he came upon a massive tree that looked hollowed out but it was too dark to see what was inside but he felt compelled to know what was inside "...hello?"

After he spoke loud rustling was heard and he could see something coming out. He stood there as he saw a paw/hand come out of the shadows followed by a muzzle, a face and then long ears. As he watched this being come closer to him he felt tears coming out of his eyes as he recognized who was coming out and it wasn't until it stood in front of him did he speak as he took a few steps closer "...Rama-san…..?"

**"It's good to see you again kit"**

That did it for Naruto and he just used all his speed to run and jump onto Kurama's head and hugged the top of his muzzle "Rama-tou-chan! Rama-Tou-chan! *sob* ...Kurama-Tou-sama….. I missed you! Where were you? I wanted to see you again *sob* for so long. Where did you go?" he said between his sobs and nuzzled Kurama's muzzle and holding on tight feeling like if he let go he might disappear again.

Kurama couldn't help but smile at how his kit reacted to seeing him again. He had missed his kit as well and wanted nothing more than to stay like this for a while but he had to talk to the kit **"****kit we need to talk, so will you stop please."**

"No!"

**"Kit you need to get off for a bit so I can speak to you face to face"**

"No."

**"Are you going to let go anytime soon"**

"No."

With a sigh, he just laid down with Naruto still attached to his muzzle. He looked at the smaller fox attached to his muzzle and smiled **"****I like your new look."**

Naruto just hugged tighter "...shut up," he said as he started to calm down a bit but still had tears streaming down his own muzzle "...thank you."

Kurama hearing this looked a bit cross-eyed at his kit **"****for what?"**

Naruto not moving, answered "for being there for me when I was younger, for playing with me…. for being the dad I didn't have and saving my life that day….just thank you"

Kurama smiled even wider **"****you're my kit, I would do anything to make sure you are happy and safe."**

The both of them just stayed there until they both fell asleep with smiles on their faces thanks to their reunion

* * *

Boy what a chapter

**Edit notice 2/9/2020:** went through this and fixed some errors and some format problems. I am sure that there are still some errors so please point it them out so I can fi them. But if you just outright give me flames than I will ignore them as they don't do anything but waste time.

Fox Naruto is back

I really enjoyed writing this one and I'm happy to bring Kurama back into Naruto's life

Really hope you like this one

I think I might be bringing in another character in the next chapter and it's time for a wardrobe change for Naruto

Also just to let you all know Naruto will still be on team 7 sorry if any of you wanted him to be on another team

Anyway hope you look forward to the next chapter

Please read, favorite, follow, and review


	10. Time for a change

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

**"Demon/Summon speech"**

**'Demon/Summon thoughts'**

**"Jutsu name"**

[translation] - this will not stay for long

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

Chapter 10: Time for a change

Naruto opened his eyes with a smile. He had his reunion with Kurama, who he hasn't seen in four years. Getting up from his pillow, he stretched his legs but still walked groggily to the door. He was so out of it that he just walked onto the door and with his full weight, the ground beneath Naruto disappeared and he fell into his bedroom, landing on his back with all four of his legs twitching in the air much to his displeasure. Finally awake, he flopped to the side and just stayed laying there 'ow maybe I shouldn't have stood on the door…..and I think I hurt my tails…...still weird to think that'. After getting back on his feet he shook himself and began to walk to the bathroom to get clean.

After he turned on the shower, he jumped into the shower, just to freeze feeling that the water was ice cold 'AAAhhhh damn it! Why don't I just jump into the lake! At least it's warmer than this!'. After getting used to the cold water, he stood on his hind legs to grab the shampoo with his hand/paw but paused when he saw his paw 'it looks more like my hand just got covered in fur'. After he grabbed the shampoo bottle and soap, he sat back down on his haunches and put some shampoo on his paw but stopped after looking at his arm 'I don't have enough to even get half of me, heck I might not even have enough for one of my tails' he thought as he looked at his tails …. His four tails. 'WHY DO I HAVE FOUR TAILS. I ONLY HAD THREE YESTERDAY!' he screamed in his head and jumped out of the tub and stumbled into his room still wet and began to run in circles. This kept up for a minute until he tripped on his feet and landed on his chin with his butt and tails in the air. With a groan, Naruto began to think 'why do I have four tails now? Mmmm'.

After he got to his feet, he shook himself dry and went to turn off the shower and went back into his bedroom, grabbed a pair of beige shorts, a white shirt and got dressed. He decided that he was going to go pick up his flower order from the Yamanaka flower shop.

* * *

~Konoha street~

Naruto had picked up his order but much to his dismay Ino was out doing a delivery but Inoichi was there to give him his and much to his shock. He liked Inoichi. The man was always nice to him when he met the man four years ago (after the incident). Lifting the potted plant in front of him, he began to wonder "where will I put you? Hmm, maybe I should put you in the kitchen? I need more in there." He was so into his thoughts that he didn't watch where he was going and bumped into someone, falling on his butt still holding the pot. On reflex, he jumped to his feet and backed up "sorry, sorry, sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going!" he said with his eyes closed and ready to run.

The person who he bumped into just looked at him and just shook her head with how the boy responded "Naruto, it's me"

Naruto opened his eyes and looked up and realized it was Hana Inuzuka. "Hana-Onee-chan!"

He met her when she came one day to pick up Kiba just to see that he and Kiba were in the middle of a race they started. She called Kiba over causing the two boys to stop and walk up to her. They were introduced to each other and her three Ninken. All three dogs had grey fur with white undersides with short pointed ears, they looked like big Huskies. Her three canine companions stared at him for a few seconds before one of them pounced and started to lick him. It was this action that was the start of his close friendship with Hana and her Ninken. So much so that Hana became another older sister figure.

Hana was out buying some groceries for her mother and was on her way home when Naruto had bumped into her. She was deep in thought about the boy in front of her, still trying to wrap her head around the fact that the boy was a fox but she also felt bad for him hearing about what led to it "Naruto, you need to look at where you are going so you don't bump into people. It's both rude and hazardous to do that." she said as she patted his head but paused when she noticed something about his hair but held her tongue for now.

One of her Ninken decided that he wanted to play a bit with the pup and moved under the blonde and lifted him up so he sat on his back "whoa!". Naruto had grabbed the scruff of the Ninken's neck as the dog raced around the street as he held onto the pot in one hand. He couldn't help but have a smile on his face.

Hana, watching this couldn't help but question in her mind 'how can anyone think this pup is some sort of demon.' Her other two ninken watched this as well with their tails wagging back and forth, hoping they can play with the pup as well. Hana would have continued to watch but they needed to get home "Ok! You've had your fun, I think it's time to let the pup go!".

Hearing this the Ninken made a sudden stop which Naruto was not prepared for. Unfortunately for him, he was launched into a small puddle of mud, which was made from someone cleaning in front of their shop. Landing on his butt with the pot being held in the air, he got up and looked down at the mud that splashed all over him "aw man, now what?"

Hana came rushing to the boy with a bit of worry "Naruto-Kun are you ok?"

Naruto just tried to wipe the mud off with his one free hand and found it hard to get it off "yeah but I don't have enough shampoo to get rid of all this mud now." 'not like I had enough to begin with, with me being covered in fur now.'

Hana was a little confused when she heard this. 'He makes it sound like he will need a lot of shampoo. He doesn't have that much on his hair…...oh now I see'. She remembered what he was now and realized something. When she had touched his hair, she realized it that not only did it feel less like hair and more like fur but it also felt like it wasn't washed properly 'he must not realize that he is going to have to change his lifestyle a lot.' "Naruto, have you showered today."

Naruto just stopped wiping himself and in a moment of self-consciousness he sniffed himself "do I smell that bad?" he kept doing it until he remembered that he cut his shower short because of his shocking discovery in there "uh not really. Something caused me to cut it short" he said feeling sheepish

Hana smiled and decided to bring some things up "you are using shampoo for your fur right?" she said in a low voice so only they could hear.

Naruto looked insulted from this "what do you mean? Of course, I'm using shampoo on my fur!" he said until he realized what he said and slammed his hands over his mouth 'oh shit!'

Hana chuckled at his easy slip up "it's ok Naruto, I know. When the Hokage brought you to the hospital, he called me over to examine you to make sure you were ok and he told me about what happened to you."

Naruto stared at her in disbelief "and you don't hate me?"

Hana shook her head "no Naruto I don't, but back to the matter at hand. From what you said you couldn't get clean this morning and if I can guess you aren't using the right products for your fur."

Naruto, not liking where this was going, decided to try and cut it off "I'm sure that what I'm doing is good enough for it!" he said as he began to sweat and back away.

As he turned around to run away, he was grabbed by the back of his shirt and dragged away flailing his free hand with the pot in his other "don't even think about it pup. I'm going to make sure that you get cleaned up and know the importance of fur care."

Naruto continued to try and get out of her grip "you don't have to! I can figure it out ….and people are looking!"

Hana just kept walking with her Ninken at her side, not even looking at him "it's fine, I've done this with Kiba when he refused to take a bath and I had to drag him back to the compound"

Naruto just kept ranting while they made their way to the Inuzuka compound

* * *

~Inuzuka Compound, Hana's veterinarian clinic~

Naruto had stopped struggling halfway to the compound and just let himself be dragged with an annoyed look on his face.

Once they made their way into the clinic. Hana made her way to the back as her Ninken followed behind to watch the show. Once they made it to the back which was filled with tubs, hoses and other objects meant to clean animals that have been brought in for it she lifted Naruto into the air seeing that he brought his legs and arms up to be in a fetal position and plant in his arms. She grabbed the potted plant and placed it on a table to her left "ok Naruto drop the henge please"

"No"

"Naruto this is for your own good so please"

"No!"

"Naruto, stop acting like a child and listen to me!"

"NO!"

With a sigh, she just bopped Naruto on the head, hard enough to dispel the henge "good"

*bark yip bark bark yip* [hey no fair! Hana-onee-chan]

"It's not meant to be fair. How else are we going to clean your fur if you hide it?"

Naruto stopped wiggling for a second to turn his head and ask through yips and barks [Hana-Onee-chan…..you can understand me?]

Chuckling a bit, Hana put Naruto on the floor "of course I can, foxes are canines themselves so of course, I can understand you. Now…." Hana pulled the shirt he was wearing off and before he could start running away she grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and pressed on a small pressure point causing him to relax.

[how...did ..you do that?] he asked as he let his body go somewhat limp in her hands

"You think that you are the only fiesty one that I had to deal with." she answered as she removed his pants and boxers (...not like that) and put them in a basket meant for pet accessories. She looked down to see the four tails swishing in the air "looks like you got another tail, is that what shocked you?" she asked because she remembered he only had three.

[yeah…..I was ...shocked ….seeing it…..and jump out…..of the shower] Naruto answered through some slurred yips and barks.

Walking next to a tub she turned on the water to fill the tub a bit "alright Naruto, we are going to get you clean. Now you can either cooperate and make this go faster or you can make this harder and make this longer. Your choice" she said as she put him into the tub and release the pressure point so he could stand again.

Naruto heard the choices and as much as he wanted to bolt to the door and escape he knew he wouldn't win so groaning in his head he sat still [fine but don't tell anyone this happened!] 'this is so embarrassing.'

Hana just smiled and grabbed some animal shampoo and started to wash him.

* * *

Naruto will never admit this to anyone but halfway through the bath he was getting, he began to enjoy it. He was at the moment enjoying being dried off with the towel and although he walked out of the towel and doubled in size with his fur puffing out, he felt fantastic. He was pulled out of his euphoria when he was picked up and put on a table and seconds later he felt something going through his fur. Looking back he saw that Hana was brushing his fur carefully to make sure that she didn't get it caught and hurt him. He enjoyed it and just let her continue.

After his fur was back to normal, he shook himself a bit, he walked into the waiting room which was set up as a cozy living room and went to the window to lay down in the sunlight.

Hana came in to see Naruto lay in the sun and smiled "Naruto, your clothes are being washed right now and will be ready in about an hour." seeing Naruto turn his head and nod she brought something up "Naruto if you are going to lay there, can you make yourself smaller and hide your other tails with a **henge**, please. You can leave your markings since many ninja animals have markings but your tails and size could cause problems".

Nodding his head again, Naruto concentrated and in a poof of smoke, three of his tails had disappeared leaving the tail that had the black line that went up his spine and shrunk down to the size of a normal fox. 'That bath felt great. It's not so bad being like this'

After laying there for fifteen minutes he smelled something familiar, but couldn't think from where.

"Hey, sis! Did you get the stuff mom asked you to get! She needs them to start feeding the dogs in the kennels"

Jumping a bit from the yelling Naruto looked to see who it was 'Crap it's Kiba! He can't see me like this'

Kiba noticed the movement and saw the fox starring there staring at him "hey sis! What's with the weird colored fox?' he said not noticing the vein popping out on the foxes head

[what do you mean weird colored fox! I look badass you scruffy-looking mutt!] Naruto said baring his teeth in a threatening manner

Kiba just looked at the fox as Hana walked in "Kiba you shouldn't say something like that, and yeah, the bag is on the counter. Where's Akamaru?"

"He is in the main house getting his food bowl so he can eat." Kiba said as he went to get the groceries

[watch your back cause I'm going to prank the hell out of you] Naruto said never taking his stare from Kiba

Kiba looked at the fox before turning to his sister "what'd he say?"

Hana just rolled her eyes at this "Really Kiba you should learn how to speak to canines other than the ones you know."

"Hey! I'm still learning it, I just have trouble with some of them!"

"Well, you better learn it! If you want to be a proper clan head." reprimanded Hana as she put her hands on her hips

"Yeah yeah, catch you later sis!" Kiba said dismissively as he walked out of the clinic

Sighing after Kiba left, Hana turned to Naruto "don't make the prank too bad, don't want a repeat of the flea fiasco"

Naruto hearing this looked sheepish and rubbed the back of his head with his paw [sorry about that Hana-oneechan]

Hana nodded her head and walked to the back of the clinic to get some work done as Naruto laid back down and waited for his clothes to get out of the wash.

* * *

~Naruto's apartment night time~

After Naruto had left Hana's clinic with his new flower and a bag Hana gave him full of fur care products, much to his embarrassment feeling like they were beauty products he has to use now, he made his way home and looked through all the stuff he now has.

He wanted to go to sleep early because he was meeting Anko the next day and didn't want to be late. 'CRAP I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO MEET HER' he thought dropping his head in a moment of depression until he just figured that he would just find her, most likely at the Dango shop, and with that settled he put the stuff away, opened the ceiling door, undressed, undid the henge, jump into his corner of nature closed the door and went to bed

* * *

~Naruto's Mindscape~

A Naruto entered his mindscape he looked around the moon he began to look for Kurama in the dense forest. He kept searching until he found himself in the same spot as last time looking into the darkness in the tree "Rama-tou-chan! Are you here?"

**"Where else would I be kit?" **Kurama said as he walked out of the shadows

Naruto smiled at his father while his four tails wagged back and forth. After Kurama fully came out of his den Naruto jumped high so he could land on top of Kurama's head and laid down on it.

**"Kit, there are a few things we need to talk about." **Kurama said in a serious tone

"If it's about you being the Kyuubi and me being your jailer, then I already know and….I'm sorry"

**"*sigh* you don't need to apologize to me kit. I should be the one doing that. It's because of me that yo…...ow!" **Kurama began to say until Naruto stopped him by biting on his ear

"It doesn't matter anymore Tou-chan. I know the truth and I'm glad you are here but there's something I want to know."

**"What is it?"**

"...Why did you attack the village?

**"*sigh* well kit my previous jailer was living in the village at the time. During a specific time when the seal was weaker, someone had forced me out of the seal. Once I was out, I didn't even have time to see where I was until someone used the Sharingan to put me in a powerful genjutsu to attack the village. After a long battle between me and the shinobi of the village, your fa….fourth Hokage confronted me, and in an act of desperation he had sealed me into you to save the village at the cost of his own life."**

Naruto listened intently at the story and understood the actions of the Hokage "so it was an Uchiha that made you do it." he said more as a statement than a question

**"Yes but enough about that, I've noticed that you now have four tails"**

Naruto, looking at his tails answered "yeah I do. Why? Is it important?"

**"Hmm for you it just might be. Now that you have four tails I'm not sure if you will be able to use your chakra a bit more easily or with more difficulty" **

Naruto just gave a confused "huh?" so Kurama decided to elaborate

**"you see kit now that you have four tails you chakra flow has smoothed out a bit now that it has more room. For example: say your body is a glass cup and it is filled completely with water, which represents your chakra, so much so that it is spilling out, now because your body won't allow your chakra to just spill out and disappear, it had to adjust, and in doing so all the water in the cup has been put into a larger cup giving it more room to flow. Now, this doesn't mean you are stronger, it just means that you have more room for your chakra which is at the same level as before. I can only assume that this happened because of your transformation and the seal your third Hokage placed being broken causing your chakra that was used for it to burst through your body. Now I don't think this will happen again for a very long time so you don't have to worry about getting more anytime soon. But I would recommend trying to get a feel of your chakra when you can because it might be easier or harder. But like I said, I'm not sure."**

Naruto was surprised to hear this but he was happy his dad explained it to him "hey Rama-tou-chan? What was that transformation I went through against Mizuki?"

Grimacing a bit Kurama looked up **"sorry kit but I will not tell you how to do that again"** Naruto whined about it but Kurama stopped him **"don't give me that! That transformation is dangerous and is harmful to you. When I think you are ready to handle it, I will tell you but until then please don't try and use it"**

Still thinking it was unfair Naruto just nodded his head "ok"

**"Good"** Kurama then smirked as he looked up **"****so…...how was your bath"**

"TOU-CHAN!" Naruto yelled in embarrassment as he pulled one of Kurama's ears and used it to cover himself and trying to drown out Kurama's laughter

* * *

~Konoha streets next afternoon~

Naruto and Anko were walking to the shop that Anko said would allow them to get some ninja supplies. Naruto didn't need to look for Anko long. He knew where she would be since she usually spends her breakfast lunch and dinner at the same bar since it sells her favorite Dango and fortunately she never drank sake in the morning….unless she came back from a tough mission or she was pissed off at something.

"Okay Gaki the shop we are going to, has a bunch of things that we can get but today we are here for a new shinobi outfit." Anko said as she finished off the last of her Dango sticks

As they made their way closer to the shop Naruto was excited about getting new ninja stuff. He wanted to get there faster but he didn't know which of the shops it was so he just followed Anko.

"And here we are!" Anko made a grand announcement with her arms and legs spread out

Naruto turned his head to the shop and looked at the sign "Dragon Fang Weaponry". Looking at the name he couldn't help but think he had heard about it before ' I know I have heard about this store before but where?'

As they walked into the shop he saw a person twirling a kunai in her fingers, someone that he hasn't seen in a few years "Welcome to Dragon Fan….Naruto?"

At the front counter was a girl with brown hair tied up in duel buns that make it look like panda ears and with short fringe bangs framing her face. She wore a pink sleeveless qipao-style blouse with red sleeve trimmings and yellow fastening buttons and dark green pants and a pouch adjusted to her thigh

Naruto gained a wide smile on his face seeing one of the friends that he made during his school years. He had met her one month after he transferred into Iruka's class when he found her practicing her shurikenjutsu on one of the field practice dummies. He thought that she was amazing in it and challenged her to see who could hit the target more. Obviously, he lost but they became friends after that and she even gave him some pointers on how to use kunai and shuriken and she even went on a tangent on how amazing weaponry is. When she graduated, she had told him about how her adoptive father owns a weapons shop called the Dragon Fang Weaponry and he should visit when he needs some supplies but he chose not to because he didn't want her to see him get kicked out just as he entered.

"Hey, Tenten! It's been a while." he said with a wave

Tenten just gave him an angry look with her hands on her hips "yeah … 'a while'. More like a year. Jeez I was starting to think that you forgot about the store I told you about"

Naruto just scratched his cheek while looking away 'I actually did forget about it'

Seeing this Tenten gave a sweet smile with her eyebrow twitching "you DID forget didn't you?"

If there was one thing that Naruto learned from Tenten is that when a girl gives you that look you are going to feel pain…..if you aren't fast enough

Anko was watching from behind Naruto and would have loved to see Naruto squirm even more but decided to save the gaki…..just this once. So walking up she spoke "Hey Panda-chan, what's up!" only to tilt her head to avoid a kunai aimed for her head.

Tenten with her arms stretched out, glared at the Tokubetsu Jonin "I told you never to call me that!"

Anko just smiled and decided that her fun had to end….for now, "maybe one day I will. Anyway we're here to give the gaki here a new ninja outfit and get him the standard ninja toolset"

Hearing this Tenten had to scream to the heavens "Oh thank Kami! At least one of them chose to wear better clothing now! YES!" she yelled with both hands in the air like her prayer has been answered

Naruto just ended up crouched down in the corner with a rain cloud over his head as he drew circles in the ground with his finger while saying "There was nothing wrong with my outfit. Why does everyone hate it so much?"

Tenten gave an exasperated sigh "Naruto the outfit was a bright neon orange that just screamed 'here I am, kill me.' And with this, at least one of the people I know will change into better clothes"

Naruto still depressed turned his head to look at Tenten "who are the other people you are talking about?"

With a shiver, Tenten shook her head "trust me you don't want to meet them. But forget that let's look around and find an outfit that looks a lot better than that jumpsuit you used to wear"

Getting up from his corner he walked up to Anko and Tenten "can it at least have Orange on it"

Both Anko and Tenten looked at him with a deadpan expression and both said "maybe!"

* * *

End of the chapter. This one was more of a filler

**Edit Notice 2/12:** grammar and format correction

Next chapter will be team assignments and outfit reveal

One thing I realized is that I have been adding a lot of females to the people that Naruto knows but it came out this way. It made the most sense since a lot of female characters in the show are affiliated with useful resources that Naruto needs: Hana being a vet, Tenten owning a weapons shop even if I don't know if she helped out in one in part 1. Ino being the one to introduce the Yamanaka flower shop which ties to Naruto's green thumb fanon aspect, Anko who understands being branded against their will, Ayame….ramen. So I made it so he knew them and for the older females to be older sister figures

I hope I described the tails aspect well enough to understand

And I don't know Tenten's parents so I used the adoptive father aspect from another fic I read, though I can't remember which one

Ok pairing, the way it is coming out of my head seems like it will be either Hinata or Ino. now I like both pairings but as I said in earlier chapters I might do one or I might make it both but if I do both I have an idea on how that isn't the usual CRA or mutual understanding and share. I think I will make a pairing decision by the time I get to the Chunin Exams

Next chapter will take a while because college break over

Please read, Favorite, follow, and review


	11. Team Introductions

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

Chapter 11: Team introductions

~Hokage's office~

Naruto was standing in front of the Hokage in his new attire, as the old man checked the photo for his registration.

Hiruzen was impressed at the new outfit that Anko had gotten for the boy and although he never said it outloud he hated the Orange jumpsuit the boy used to wear. "Well Naruto, I have to say that I am impressed on the picture you have taken. I was afraid you would have done it with some makeup or a mask as a prank or to be funny".

Naruto chuckled nervously as he kept looking anywhere except the Hokage's eyes 'Anko-neechan told me that if I did something like that, she would use me as a practice dummy for her snakes'. "Well I didn't want to do something that might look bad in my new outfit". Naruto would have continued but he heard very quick footsteps coming from the hallway and believed that someone was running "I think someone has something important to say to you. Someone is running towards us"

Hiruzen was confused, since he wasn't expecting anyone today and he began to wonder what was the urgency from the one coming. His confusion became slight annoyance when he saw his grandson Konohamaru burst through the doors.

Naruto had turned his head to the door just to see a little kid wearing a cap over his head with some of his hair spilling out of the top showing that his hair color was brown. He was wear a yellow shirt with the Leaf villages symbol in read on the front, gray shorts with dark patches on the knees, blue sandals and a scarf that looked more than twice his size around his neck. He was also holding a shuriken in his hand with his fingers in between the blades like he was going to hit the old man in the head with a rock

Naruto gave a somewhat deadpan expression when he heard the kid start talking "time for you to meet your end old man!". As Naruto saw this little boy make his way to the Hokage, he noticed that the scarf was dragging on the floor and started to get tangled in the boys feet so he just stood there and watch as what he expected happened: the boy tripped on his scarf halfway and in front of Naruto. Naruto was trying hard not to laugh out loud and it was starting to hurt his stomach.

The boy had gotten up from the ground and looked around for what tripped and then saw the laughing blonde "you tripped me!"

Naruto could handle a lot of things but one thing he really didn't like was being blamed for something he didn't do, even though a lot of the things he was blamed for were his pranks and he didn't mind the blame then since he was guilty but it's not like they ever had proof. Grabbing the scarf he lifted the kid to his face "Hey, you tripped on the scarf your wearing! So don't go blaming me for something so stupid!"

As this was going on another person had came through the door "Honorable grandson, you shouldn't ha….release the Honorable Grandson!

Naruto turned his head to see who it was and his angered face became an annoyed one. He saw that the other person was Ebisu. Ebisu was a tall skinny man with black hair that was covered in a bandana, wearing black round rimless sunglasses and a standard jonin flak jacket. Naruto had met the tokubetsu jounin before and he gave the same look as the villagers including the hate in his voice "release the Honorable grandson you fiend. How dare you put your filthy hands on the Hokage's grandson". Hearing this Naruto looked towards the old man and saw the old man nod "yes Naruto, this is my grandson Konohamaru."

After that Naruto turned back to the kid to see a smug look on his face "yeah, so go ahead and do something". With no hesitation Naruto slammed his fist on the kids head "I don't care if you were the Daimyo himself. Your nothing but a brat". After that Naruto dropped the kid and turned to the Hokage "anyway Jiji, I am going to relax a bit since I have been training my jutsu for the last few days and I want to be ready for team assignments tomorrow". Naruto began to walk out of the room leaving an awed Konohamaru, an infuriated jonin, and an amused hokage.

Without any warning Konohamaru got on his feet and ran after Naruto. Ebisu was a little taken aback and stood there until he heard Konohamaru scream "AAaahhh".

Running out in the hall Ebisu saw Konohamaru hanging upside down, tied from his feet. Running to the Honorable grandson, Ebisu was going to see if he was alright before he untied him but after a few steps he found himself in the same position. Looking down the hall a bit he saw Naruto standing there with a foxy grin and would have yelled at the demon brat until Naruto spoke to Konohamaru "That was for being a brat" he then turned to Ebisu with a scowl on his face "and for you it was because you are just as bad as the Villagers. Ignorant and arrogant" and with that the blonde left.

Konohamaru was still in aw at that "he's so cool!"

* * *

~Iruka's classroom day of team assignments~

Every one of the graduates were back in their own seat talking to their friends trying to figure out who was going to be on their team. However there were a few that were thinking of their blonde classmate that they haven't seen since the graduation day.

Ino was resting her head in her hand as she just looked a out the window to her left, sitting in the second row, center column right behind Sakura who won the race to see who sat next to Sasuke. She wasn't so enthusiastic this day as she remembered the day of the graduation exam and how depressed Naruto looked. 'I hope Naruto is ok, like I know that he is still around since daddy told me that he picked up his order when I was delivering an order but he wouldn't tell me how Naruto was doing' she thought before she sighed and tried to get her mind off it

Ino wasn't the only one that had similar thoughts as Hinata who was sitting in the back also felt low for listening to her father about not going near Naruto and the look she saw on his face the day of graduation hurt her heart more than anything 'Naruto, I am sorry for helping you, when you needed it'. Hinata just wanted to be there for her lost friend if he needed someone to help but she knew that she didn't have the courage to help and seeing her pillar of strength hurt like that made her feel even more useless.

Both of their thoughts were interrupted when Iruka came in with a small limp and bandage on her face "Ok everyone settle down so we can get the teams set up!"

One of the civilian graduates asked what was on everyone's mind "Hey sensei what happened to you and where is Mizuki sensei?"

Iruka looked up to al the students to answer "unfortunately, Mizuki has been found guilty of giving village secrets to an enemy of the village and has been taken into custody" 'not to mention that he is also barely alive and Anko is prying everything out of him before the wound Naruto gave hive causes it. Speaking of which?' he thought as he looked around 'I know Hokage-sama must have given him the Hitai-ai'. Hey has anyone seen…"

At that moment Naruto walked into the classroom looking a little sheepish "sorry I'm late Iruka-sensei. I had to get something before I got here"

Everyone looked at Naruto but what grabbed their attention was what he was wearing. No longer wearing the neon orange jumpsuit. He was now wearing a black sleeveless muscle shirt, an open short sleeve orange jacket with white seams, that cuts off at the bottom of his ribs and white rimmed mid colar (Colar like the one on Anko's jacket), the uzumaki swirl at the center of his back, dark blue anbu style pants, black Anbu sandals that go halfway up his calf, and a sash being used as a belt that falls to his left calf that's the same color as his jacket. He also had his weapons pouch attached to his back left pocket and kunai pouch tied over some bandages that wrapped around his right thigh, and Hitai-ai being worn proudly on his forehead.

Naruto made his way to the only seat that was available right next to Sakura as he ignored the stares aim at him. Everyone had their own thoughts on the blonde walking to the seat

'Oh my god! Is that Naruto? He looks so handsome in that new outfit' Ino thought as she looked over Naruto's new look and happy when she saw his Hitai-ai

'N-n-naruto-kun!' Hinata thought as her face became red trying her hardest not to faint

'Troublesome blonde' Shikamaru thought with a small smile seeing his friend here

'Che! Dobe is still a loser' scowled Sasuke

'He is still nowhere near as cool as Sasuke-kun! CHA' thought Sakura and inner Sakura at the same time

Kiba although had something else on his mind "hey Naruto didn't you fail the exam? What are you doing here?" he said

Before Naruto could say anything, Iruka answered "due to his help on a mission, he was given a field promotion to genin, so he is here for team assignments". Iruka looked at Naruto with a smile and Naruto just nodded as he sat down

As Naruto sat down, Sakura began to rant to him "Naruto-baka, don't think you can upstage Sasuke-kun with those cloths!". Naruto had to cover his ears not only because of the volume of the rant but also because she was right next to him 'why did I forget my earplugs! Why did I forget to put a pair in my pocket! Ow'

Iruka was growing tired of being interrupted and wanted to get the teams set, so he used his **Big Head Jutsu** "ALRIGHT SAKURA THAT'S ENOUGH" and thankfully for both him and Naruto, she stopped and sat back down.

Naruto gave a thankful nod to Iruka as his sensei began his speech on how proud he was for all of the ones that graduated.

After Iruka had finished his speech, he began "Ok everyone it's time for me to announce the teams and their sensei, so please pay attention for your name and teammates"

Naruto started to think to himself as the teams were being announced 'at least once I get my team, I won't have to deal with high pitched screaming anymore. Wonder who will be on my team, maybe Shino, he's cool to be around. Quiet yeah, but his insect jutsu are cool or maybe Shikamaru, watching the clouds is always peaceful and good way to remove stress. Kiba would be fun, he still has the lead in our competitions and Akamaru is cool too. Choji is fine, we still haven't had our eating contest rematch hehe. Ino would be nice, I could ask her about some new flowers that I found in the forest. Hinata…...I would like to know why she ignored me for so long, so maybe this would give me a chance'

Naruto kept thinking to himself as Iruka got to team 7 "Team 7 will be a frontal assault team. It's members will be Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno" at this Sakura jump to her feet screaming "YES LOVE CONQUERS ALL, TAKE THAT INO-PIG!". Naruto couldn't bring his hands to his ears fast enough and was now in immense pain, slamming his head on the desk as his ears were ringing nonstop.

Iruka seeing this couldn't help but think 'Naruto is really not going to like this' and with a deep sigh he finished "and ….Naruto Uzumaki….."

As everyone heard this, Naruto's friends looked at Naruto in great pity as Naruto turned his head up while still on the desk "Iruka-sensei…...I hate you right now"

Iruka expected something like that but kept his composure "Sorry Naruto but it isn't my decision on who is on what team"

Naruto had pulled his hands away from his ears as he tried to get them to stop ringing with his pinkie "than at least tell me why I have to be on a team with them" he said while pointing at Sakura and Sasuke "anyone else would have been better than these 2"

Iruka looked at Naruto, wishing he could help but he couldn't "well Naruto because of you being made a genin through a field promotion, you are set at the bottom since field promotions somewhat bypass the official exams or trails for rank promotion, so your skill isn't really put into consideration. So since Sasuke is ranked rookie of the year and Sakura is ranked as the top Kunoichi, as common practice the dead last is set with the best for an even balance"

Naruto was not happy. He began to think of making someone suffer his pranks…..anyone and whoever it was, was going to have a really bad week….or month.

Sasuke just gave a smug look "hn! Stay out of my way and don't hold me back Dobe"

Naruto was really tempted to just make him a target but knew that it wouldn't be enough, he needed a big group of people.

Iruka for some reason felt like if he didn't get out soon he may suffer great humiliation so he continued "anyway your team Sensei will be Kakashi Hatake. Team 8 will be a tracking team, the members will be: Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuga, your team Sensei will be Kurenai Yuhi. Team 9 is still in circulation and team 10 will be a capture and infiltration team with it's members being Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi, your team sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi. Congratulations everyone! You are now proud ninja of the leaf, serve the village to the best of your abilities" he ended it with a bow "you have a 30 minute break, after that please return here as your sensei will arrive after that" and with that Iruka walked quickly out the door but as he left he swore he could hear Naruto whisper "watch your back Iruka-sensei". Closing the door he bolted away, with sweat coming down his neck

* * *

~Iruka's class after break~

Naruto spent the break thinking of who to release his pent up frustration and anger, and now he sat in the same seat with his teammates as they waited for their sensei.

Everyone had already left with their sensei's while his friends kept saying "good luck" and "sorry man". That was 2 hours ago. 2 hours of listening to Sakura asking Sasuke out on a date and he kept giving his usual responses 'where is this guy! He should have been here hours ago. And Sakura should take a friggin hint! How many no's until she gets it!'. He got up from his seat and began to pace back and forth. He had the thought of pranking the sensei when he gets here but he didn't want to make a bad first impression….he will do it after they meet.

On the 3 hour mark every single one of them were frustrated with Sakura being the most vocal "WHERE THE HELL IS HE! IT'S BEEN 3 HOURS!"

The yelling wasn't helping her teammates with Sasuke getting even more annoyed and Naruto thinking of a way to shut her up 'is it possible to create a jutsu that can mute a person for a while or maybe forever'

Naruto stopped his thinking when he heard footsteps coming from the hallway "finally he's here!"

Both Sakura and Sasuke looked to the door and kept it there for 2 minutes "Naruto-baka! Stop making stuff up". She was about to hit him in the head but to here surprise she hit a silver haired man with his Hitai-ai covering his left eye.

Kakashi was extremely confused. One moment he was making his way to the class to pick up his genin team and the next moment he was on the ground with a massive headache and a head welt '...ow'

For a few seconds Sakura just stood there with her fist in the air looking down on the man until she heard the door open, and she was going to yell at the sensei but was confused to see Naruto at the door walking into the class "well done Sakura. You just punched our sensei"

Sasuke sat there looking between the man on the ground and Naruto. He couldn't believe that his sensei that was suppose to make him stronger was this man on the ground "what makes you think that this is suppose to be our sensei, Dobe?"

Naruto just shrugged his shoulders "it has to be him. He is the only other person in the building anyway right now". Naruto looked at the man as he was getting up, and for some reason he felt something really uncomfortable about him. He knew he never met the man before but it was a gut feeling telling him that something about the man felt really bad.

Kakashi finally got up rubbing his hand on the welt and looked at the 3 students around him "My first impression of you 3 is…..I hate you all. Meet me on the roof in 4 minutes" and with that he disappeared in a poof of smoke. At this all 3 ran out of the room and to the stairs

After they all arrived, they saw Kakashi leaning against the railing "well, it's about time you got here"

Naruto just made his way to the steps in front of the man and sat there, followed by his teammates

Kakashi looked at all 3 analyzing them from their posture to where their eyes were focused 'it looks like there is a lot of animosity between Naruto and the other 2, I'll have to work on that. If they pass that is'. "Ok why don't the 3 of you introduce yourselves, tell me a bit of yourselves like your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams of the future. Why don't we start with you blondie" he said as he pointed to Naruto

With a tick mark, Naruto began to picture the man with bright green hair but would save that for later. So with some enthusiasm he started "My Name is Naruto Uzumaki! I like chicken Ramen, and the people close to me" he started 'as well as foxes' he thought to keep it a secret. "I dislike traitors, rapists, mobs, arrogant people and loud noises" he said as he looked towards his teammates on the last bit

Kakashi was starting to realize that he was going to have a tough time with this group already

"My hobbies are gardening, racing through the forest, sunbathing, training and pranks" he said the last bit with and evil mischievous glint in his eyes.

Sakura just looked confused hearing his hobbies, thinking that someone like Naruto wouldn't be able to grow anything without messing up

Kakashi was a bit surprised from hearing this, not knowing the boy had such hobbies

And with more energy and standing up Naruto finished "My dream for the future is to be the greatest Hokage ever Dattebayo!"

Kakashi just kept looking at the blonde 'at least that was expected'. Nodding his head he turned to the other 2 "well that was informative wasn't it?"

Sakura had tuned out the last of what Naruto said and just stared at Sasuke with her hands on her chin and Sasuke just gave his usual "hn"

Hearing this Naruto remembered what he picked up from his apartment "oh sensei" he said getting Kakashi's attention and reached into his jacket inner pocket, pulling out a small handmade booklet and giving it to his sensei "this should help you understand the Uchiha a bit more".

Taking the booklet Kakashi read the cover "Uchiha words and their meaning". Kakashi just raised his only visible eyebrow and opened it to the first page "The Uchiha or Brooder duckbutt, has many 1 syllable sounds and words but after much observation they have multiple meanings"

"Hn = whatever"

"'Hn' while turning the head = fine whatever"

"Hm = I'm right deal with it"

"Hm while smirking = in your face or I'm better than you"

"No = no, never, stop talking, leave me alone, go away, shut up. Further meanings yet to be discovered"

The rest of the page kept going for a few more until it had a bit more info at the bottom "there might be more meanings yet to be found but study on the Uchiha will not continue" and with small print in the corner "Written by Naruto Uzumaki and really wish I didn't"

Sasuke glared at Naruto looking like he wanted to kill the blonde "DOBE! Why the hell did you make something like that?!"

Naruto just crossed his arms and gave a growl "because Ino asked me to make it and said she would pay for 3 of my lunches at Ichiraku and the fangirls kept nagging me to do it when they found out and I DIDN'T want to deal with the fangirls!"

Sasuke just scowled harder as Sakura ranted "Naruto-baka don't do rude things to Sasuke-kun" 'CHA! How dare that Ino-pig have that when I don't'

Putting the booklet away Kakashi just moved on "ok your turn Pinkie" pointing at Sakura

Sakura not liking the nickname but not wanting to drag it on started "My name is Sakura Haruno, my likes are ….or the person I like is" looking at Sasuke, she squealed like a fangirl "my hobbies are….." look and squeal "and my dreams for the future are…." look, squeal and swoon

Kakashi sweatdropped at this "and anything you hate?"

"NARUTO-BAKA"

Kakashi turned his head to Naruto just to see the boy rolling back and forth clutching his ears

Naruto had stopped rolling around still clutching his ears hoping that his hearing would come back 'DAMN IT! Why did she have to squeal! I think she made me deaf!'. Finally sitting up straight, he removed his hands when he realized that the pink haired banshee was finished and just waited for his hearing to come back.

After a few seconds he started hearing Sasuke talk but seemed like he was almost done "...and kill a certain person"

Naruto heard this and just ignored it as he didn't care who the Uchiha wanted to kill, as long as it wasn't someone Naruto cared about it doesn't concern him

Kakashi just sighed. He didn't know what to think of this group and wondered how they would do tomorrow for the genin test "ok now that we all know each other, I should let you know that you aren't genin yet". Kakashi just waited for a reaction and got one but not one he expected

Sakura was about to scream but on sheer instinct for his well being Naruto jumped behind her and covered her mouth to stop her from screaming. Holding the struggling pink hair girl Naruto asked the question they all wanted to ask "what do you mean sensei?"

Kakashi was somewhat thankful to Naruto "well to put it simply you have not become shinobi yet. The academy tests are to weed out those who don't have the potential to be Shinobi and the genin test is to test if you can become a team" he said putting a little bit more emphasis on the word "team" "any I want you all to meet me at training ground 7 at 6 AM sharp…...oh a don't eat anything because this test will make you throw up. Ja ne" and with a wave he disappeared in a puff of smoke

After their sensei left Naruto let go of Sakura and jumped away to avoid the fist aimed at his head "well since we are free for the rest of the day….I'm off" and with that Naruto leapt off the roof to land on the street below and ignore the shocked looks from his teammates and then ran off

* * *

~Konoha streets~

Naruto was just minding his own business trying to think about what he should do for the rest of the day 'hmm maybe I should go home and practice more on the **Kage Bunshin? **I still can't do it like the **Kawarimi** and the **Henge,** so I might as well'

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he overheard something "...ear that Hinata-sama was put on a team with the Inuzuka and Aburame heirs?". Looking towards the sound he saw that it was 2 hyugas a good ways down the street, and with his curiosity peaking he jumped to the rooftop before they saw him and listened in on what they were saying about his former friend. "Yes I heard. I believe it's a good thing that she wasn't placed with the demon brat on her team and maybe now she will start to become more useful, instead of the meek girl that she is"

The first hyuga nodded his head "indead, it will make the order Hiashi-sama and the elders gave her to avoid the boy a moot point since they won't be around each other anymore. We don't need her to disgrace the hyuga clan anymore. Her little sister Hanabi-sama would make a better clan heir. Even if Hitomi-sama keeps insisting that her elder daughter is the rightful heir"

Naruto was stunned hearing what they said 'so the reason Hinata-chan ignored me for so long was because of her father and clan elders told her to do so?'. He began to feel sad for her and couldn't believe they could do such a thing. After the talking Hyugas left, he jumped down to the street and stared in their direction 'if they thought they could do something like this and get away with it, they are wrong!' and with that final thought he began to plan his clan wide prank. This was perfect for him as he had the need to take out the frustration he got from team assignments. He knew that it would take a lot of time and planning before he could do it but it would be worth the wait and with that he was off to get supplies for it.

* * *

Chapter end

Finally on a team and poor Naruto and his ears

More things to bring up

It was intentional that in the hokage office that Naruto's look wasn't said yet

The Uchiha words booklet bit was something I wanted to add since most of the time all Sasuke says is hn or hm

For the introductions I watched the episode with them and I gotta say it hurt to watch Sakura and Sasuke, in fact it hurt just to write it and I was tempted to just say "skip" but chose not to but got away with it a but with the loss of hearing

I wanted to add the Apartment visits here but I chose to move it to next chapter

I made it so Hinata's mother is alive and will meet naruto later. "I think there is another fic that has her name as Hitomi but for me the name kinda popped in my head so I going with it

Also I feel the Kawarimi doesn't get use that often

Please read and review


	12. Team 7 established

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Ok I have gone back to reread the previous chapters and found several missing words and misspelling so, at one point I will be going back to fix them but it will take a bit

* * *

Chapter 12: Team 7 established

Naruto was waking up from his pillow and looking out the window to realize that the sun hasn't even come up yet. He lifted his paw to move one of his flowers to reveal the clock and saw that it was 4:45 'why did I have to stay awake so late? I didn't even get to sleep until 1 mmmmm'. He wanted to just go to sleep but he knew that if he did, he would not get up in time for the exam, so he got up and walked to the door. Making sure not to fall through the door again, he opened it and dropped down to his unused bedroom. He mad his way to the shower and sat on his haunches letting the cold water wake him up as he thought about what Kurama told him last night as he slept

_Flashback_

"_**Kit, I need to talk to you about your **__**henge**__**"**_

_Hearing his tou-chan, Naruto looked up from his patch of grass with a confused look "what about it tou-chan?"_

_Kurama looked down on Naruto and brought up the issue "__**your won't be able to rely on it to hide yourself anymore"**_

_Naruto was stunned "what do you mean I can't rely on it? I mastered the jutsu! I can use it without hand signs anymore, and yeah I still need to think about what to turn into but I can still use it!"_

_Kurama lifted his paw and tapped Naruto on the head with his finger, just hard enough to cause Naruto to hold his head in a bit of pain "__**it is still usable but it won't last. It is easily dispelled after a small tap or do you not remember the Inuzuka woman hitting you on the head gently to remove it" **__Kurama said with a smirk_

_Naruto just grumbled with a small bush at the embarrassing moment "fine but what can I do?"_

"_**I have an idea on how we can get around this, but I don't think we have the time for it right now, so I will be reinforce your **__**henge**__** a bit with my own chakra"**_

_Tilting his head he sat up and looked at Kurama "how will that reinforce them?"_

"_**Your chakra is already far denser than a ningen's chakra but you still lack the control to do what I will do for you. I will be flowing some of my chakra into the **__**henge **__**keeping the flow to the henge stable so they don't dispel so quickly and it would need a very hard hit or knocking you out before it dispels as long as you maintain your focus on it"**_

_Naruto didn't really understand how it would work but just nodded while scratching his head "ok, I think I get it but what is the other way that you were talking about?"_

_Kurama just shook his head _"_**don't worry about it, we will work on it at a later date but for now get some sleep, I'm sure you will be tired in the morning since you decided to stay awake planning your prank" **_

_Naruto yawned and layed down and closed his eyes "I just want to make sure that I get it righhh….". Naruto had fallen asleep and Kurama just smiled and layed down next to him_

_Flashback end_

Naruto had finished his shower and spent some time trying to get his fur to flatten. After he was satisfied, he **henged**, got dressed, grabbed his equipment and left his apartment, heading to the training grounds

* * *

~Training grounds 7 5:40~

Naruto had arrived at the training grounds first and just chose to wait under a tree. As he sat there he looked around, in the center of the wide open field were 3 wooden posts, behind them was a river with mountains in the background on all other sides of the posts were wide forests with a dirt pathway leading to the village. Naruto wanted to take a nap but he heard footsteps coming to the grounds and turning his head he saw that it was Sasuke with Sakura followed behind and Naruto could hear her still asking for a date. Reaching into his pocket he put in the earplugs and just waited.

After Sasuke and Sakura arrived they noticed their blonde teammate sitting against a tree.

Sasuke just gave a "hm" and walked to the other side of the field and waited. Sakura just followed and sat next to him still talking to the Uchiha

* * *

~Meanwhile with Kakashi and the Hokage~

The Hokage and Kakashi were visiting the living areas of the 3 kids and their last stop was Naruto's apartment "so far, Sakura and Sasuke seem to be just as expected based on what I learned yesterday but I don't know what to expect from Naruto. I never expected his answers to be so straightforward and I never thought I would have him as a potential student".

The hokage chuckled when hearing this "in the world we live in, you should be ready for anything, even if it's something like taking a student like him"

They both had made it in front of the apartment door as Sarutobi made a note of the condition of the building. As they entered the apartment they made note of the small mess of a few ramen cups on the counter and some unwashed dishes. Kakashi examined the dining room making notes of the small things and made his way to through Naruto's bathroom. He paused when he saw, what looked to be pet bathing products 'Naruto must have a pet somewhere'. As the 2 made it into Naruto's bedroom, Kakashi had noticed a few things. He looked to the bed an noticed that the bed looked like it was onced used but no longer had an impression on it signifying that it hasn't been slept in, in awhile. He also noticed that there were plants and flowers placed here and there and giving the room a bit of a natures smell, but what really caught his attention was a small rope dangling in the middle of the room with what looked like a piece of the ceiling on the end, looking up he could make the very subtle signs of a ceiling door 'he must have forgotten to hide the rope this morning, since the ceiling piece on the tip shows that it would be a hidden area'.

Hiruzen was confused because he knew that there shouldn't be an attic in the apartment. Walking up to the rope, he gently pulled on it to reveal the door swing down. Kakashi lept up to hang on the ledge and would have climbed up if there was room but he noticed that he wouldn't even be able to crawl well in there let alone stand so he just peered into the new area and saw a good amount of plants and flowers and a sleeping area next to the window in the ceiling of the area. After he fell back next to the Hokage and told him what he saw.

Hiruzen just nodded as he thought ' I should ask Naruto about that little area but for now I will leave him be'

Kakashi began to speak to the Hokage "this one is the more unpredictable one out of the 3, he gardens, he has a bed that looks like it's more for show now, he has a secret sleeping area surrounded by plants and appears to have pet products in his bathroom"

"Hmm, he has been unpredictable all his life but he is determined, headstrong and …...random. He reminds me so much of his mother in that respect." HIruzen said while rubbing his chin

After they finished their inspection of the apartment, they left and began speaking about the 3 genins as they walked through the streets. "The 3 of them are so different from each other, very very little in common and from how they interacted, they will never get along, they might work together if it comes to it but it will be extremely strained" kakashi said in a dull tone while walking with his hands in his pockets

Hiruzen could understand what Kakashi was saying, and deep down he thought that this was a bad team up with the Uchiha's personality being what Naruto would want nothing to so with. He hated that the council brought up such a good point on having Kakashi being his teacher to help with his Sharingan and how the deadlast would be team up with the rookie of the year. He almost killed the civilian council when they said that the Uchiha would be able to rein in the "demon brat". He kept asking himself why he allowed the civilian council to keep existing, but knew that the civilian part of the village needed a voice for their concerns but they keep going out of bounds when it they don't like something.

"Kakashi-san I understand your concerns but it has been set this way and I am hoping you will be able to change them a bit. Hopefully they will pass the genins test and you can start on that, speaking of which when did you tell them to meet you?"

In a bored tone he answered "6"

Hiruzen paused when he heard this and gave Kakashi a stern look "Kakashi-san…. it is 8"

Turning to the Hokage, Kakashi just gave a nonchalant "oh really?"

"Kakashi-san….one of these days you might regret being late. Now get to your team!"

* * *

~back with the 3 genin~

Naruto was trying his hardest not to hit Sakura. She had been ranting for the last 20 minutes and although he had his earplugs, he could still hear her and it was still causing his ears the sting a bit 'that's it! I'm going to find out who it was that gave me this team and I am going to find something that Kakashi-sensei can't stand and I'm going to use it when pranking him!'

After he made this thought he got up on his feet and decided to at least get some practice with his **kage bunshin **and get it where he can do it without hand signs but just as fast. After 10 seconds a clone popped up next to him without using a hand sign and than popped out of existence. After another 10 seconds another popped up and so he kept trying to make it faster before he started attempting making more just as fast. He was able to get this fast after practicing a lot and he had learned that when he made his first clones (after the seal was removed) they came out as his fox form, so after practicing, he made it so the clone would automatically use a **henge **before the smoke dissipated. Needless to say he grew tired after a few hours of doing this.

After hearing the pop, Sasuke and Sakura looked towards the blonde and saw him making a clone before it popped away "hey Dobe what are you doing?"

Naruto had not heard him and kept up his practice. Sakura was not happy that "her Sasuke-kun" was being ignored "HEY NARUTO-BAKA DON'T IGNORE SASUKE-KUN" she yelled out breaking Naruto's concentration

Naruto jumped when he heard the yelling, turning to the other 2, he saw that Sasuke was talking while wiggling his finger in his ear. Pulling out his earplugs and shaking his head a bit he asked with some irritation "what is it now? I was in the middle of something"

Sasuke got the ringing in his ear to stop and asked his question again "what was it that you are doing Dobe?"

Naruto really wanted to punch him in the face but decided to be nice, as much as his patience allowed him "I was practicing my jutsu, so I could do it faster"

Sakura was confused and asked "but you weren't doing any hand signs, how can you do any jutsu without hand signs?" in a softer tone thankfully

Naruto couldn't believe it. The smartest kunoichi didn't know this? Now granted he wasn't really book smart but Anko got him a book that talked about improving your skills that he skimmed and he had practiced his **henge **and **Kawarimi **when he learned them trying to make them better or easier to use. One of the only things that he learned was that you can do jutsu faster and easier if you practice them and that certain jutsus can be done without hand signs so he tried the **henge **and **Kawarimi **and they worked, and the days before team assignments were spent doing it with the **Kage Bunshin **which was a lot harder when doing it with a **henge **

"I read from a book given to me as a gift that some jutsu can be done that way" he said with a sigh knowing that he won't be able to practice now

Sasuke got up from where he was and walked up to the blonde "Dobe tell me how to do it and give me the book that told you this!"

And that just gave Naruto the reason he needed to punch him in the face. After the fist launched Sasuke 10 feet away, Naruto just glared at the Uchiha "how's that for an answer! You want to learn it?! Then go find your own book teme! The book was a gift to me and I hold it dear since I rarely get any gifts, so fuck off!" and with that Naruto leaped into the trees and sat in a tree a good distance away but he could still see the open area '2 months of pranks to whoever put me here!' he thought as his eyes became slitted

* * *

~1 hour later, 9 AM~

Kakashi made it to the training grounds with a "yo"

Sakura was not pleased "Your late!" she yelled but not as loud as usual

Kakashi gave his signature eyes smile "sorry about that, I got lost on the road of life". After he gave his excuse he looked at the 2 in front of him and wondered where the 3rd was "um….where's Naruto?" only to be hit on the back of the head with a water balloon. Turning his head to see who did it he saw Naruto standing there and was shocked to see his eyes: his blue slitted eyes. But he calmed down a bit when he saw them go back to normal

Naruto calmed down after the water balloon hitting its target but still made a mental note 'I will mentally scar this man for the remaining bit of his life but I will wait for that'. "Can we get this test over with."

Kakashi knew he would have to keep an eye on him but decided to get the test started and walked to the 3 posts, placed an alarm clock and pulled out 2 bells "ok guys, the test will be trying to get a bell for yourself" he said as he held them in front of him

Sakura was confused when she saw the 2 bells "but there are 3 of us and only 2 bells, so what happens to the one that doesnt get one?"

Kakashi smirked under his mask "the one that doesn't get a bell will go back to the academy" and then eye smiled

Each of them had their own thoughts when they heard this

'If I get both of them I can get rid of the other 2 losers' Sasuke thought

'If I get them and give one to Sasuke-kun, he and I will be all alone and leave Naruto-baka behind' thought Sakura as she began to day dream of the 2 of them alone

'I would rather not deal with these 2 so I guess I know one way to get away from them' thought Naruto with a sigh

Kakashi seeing the 3 in their own thoughts he brought them back to him "you have until noon to get the bells after that one of you will be punished and I will let you guys try again after you have eaten lunch" at this he heard 2 stomachs growl. Seeing that they came from Sasuke and Sakura he turned to Naruto "didn't I tell you not to eat breakfast?"

Naruto just looked at him "I didn't eat anything this morning". What he didn't say was that he didn't really need to eat anymore now that most of his body was made up of chakra, he just eats cause he enjoys eating and when he does eat the food is converted into chakra to restore some of his reserves

Kakashi didn't think much of it and just accepted it and attached the bells to his belt "ok than, make sure that you come at me with the intention to kill". All three got ready "aaannnnd…..start" and with that all 3 leapt into the trees and hid themselves.

Looking around, Kakashi made note that Sasuke and Sakura had hid fairly well "well they at least know the basics ….but…." looking around he tried to find Naruto "where did he go? I can't seem to sense his presence anywhere….did he leave?". He didn't think that Naruto would leave since the boy didn't seem the type to abandon something especially if it would help him in his goal so he just stood there and waited for any sign of movement.

* * *

~1 hour 30 minutes later~

Kakashi just stood there, wondering who would crack first after lying in wait for all that time and he wasn't disappointed to see exactly the one he was waiting for "so, you are the first one to break huh?"

Naruto stood in front of Kakashi with a serious determined look on his face "trust me Kakashi-sensei!" he said as he lowered himself, legs spread wide, knees bent and both hands crossed in front of his face with his fingers curled to form a clawed hand formation facing forward "if you underestimate me ….you will find yourself on the ground"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow seeing the form Naruto was using, at first he thought it was an Inuzuka form but all Inuzuka forms had their hands on the ground as well. This form was obviously an animalistic defensive stance but he didn't know where the boy learned it. 'I might have to ask where he learned it but for now….'

Naruto tensed a bit when he saw Kakashi reach behind him into his weapons pouch, thinking he would pull out a shuriken or kunai he was surprised that he pulled out a little orange book with title "Icha Icha Paradise". "Ok kid come at me whenever you want". After a few seconds Naruto realised that he was being underestimated by a big amount and he felt his anger rising 'he thinks that he can beat me that easily! Lets see what he thinks after this'. His eyes became slitted and he felt that he needed to focus or his henge would falter so he took a deep breath but his eyes remained. "Just to let you know Kakashi-sensei! You have already lost!"

Naruto launched himself to Kakashi, running on all fours at speed much faster than any genin should have. Kakashi just stood there still reading but on closer inspection his eyebrow had twitched 'he's fast! Much faster than even a chunin, this should be interesting'

As Naruto made it to Kakashi, he leapt into the air sending a flying roundhouse kick to the man's head which Kakashi crouched under. Naruto didn't stop, when his feet hit the ground he made a quick turn to throw an opening swipe with both of his hands as claws aiming for the back of the man's legs but Kakashi just leapt up. Naruto knowing it's hard to dodge in the air, pushed his legs aiming a headbutt to Kakashi's back at close range.

Kakashi pulled out his free hand that was in his pocket and grabbed Naruto's head, and swung the boy around to toss him in front of him. Naruto went back into the attack and threw a flurry of clawed strikes aimed for his head, neck, stomach, elbow joints and leg joints. Grabbing one of the strikes by the wrist he twisted it to hold the arm behind the boy and kicked Naruto away. He lifted his eye from the book and saw that Naruto rolled on the ground to stand on all fours "tell me, who taught you this fighting style? I first thought it was an Inuzuka style but it's more flexible and with sharper movements aiming for vital points where as the Inuzuka style is more for speed and strength where their strikes are aiming more for a beat down, but yours seems like an animal aiming for points to weaken before you go for the kill" he said before whispered "…..like hunting"

Naruto had heard the last part but made no reaction "no one, I taught myself this fighting style since the one taught at the academy was uncomfortable for me and I could never get the stance right and I'm pretty sure that the instructors kept showing me wrong anyway. I don't have a name for this style yet and I'm still trying to work some things out"

Kakashi was impressed that the kid made up a fighting style like that. "I must say that I am impressed a style like that but I don't think that it fits you". Naruto was confused at this "why the hell wouldn't this style work for me when I made it?!". Kakashi elaborated "well the style is impressive but your movements are a bit too stiff and seems more like it's meant more for Inuzuka who have claws for styles like this but you don't have that going for you" he said as he turned a page

Hearing this Naruto got up from all fours and started to take off his sandals, much to the one eyed shinobi's confusion

* * *

Sakura and Sasuke were both watching the whole thing from different sides of the field and couldn't believe what they saw. The deadlast of their class moved faster than they ever saw him go and using a taijutsu style he never used in the academy taijutsu matches

Sakura was shell shocked 'I could barely keep track of any of their movements. I don't think I will be able to handle fighting that…..but I'm sure Sasuke-kun could beat it' she thought while for Inner Sakura gave her thoughts 'CHA! There's no way Sasuke-kun would lose!'

Meanwhile Sasuke was fuming 'How the hell did the Dobe learn that style!? I should be the one with that style! not him! How did he get that strong?...hmm it might just be a fluke'

* * *

Naruto had finally taken off his sandals and put them to the side. Kakashi couldn't figure out what the point of doing something like that but just waited. He got his answer when he saw Naruto lifted his heel and stood on his toes and dropped to all fours with his heel still lifted and then launched himself a bit faster than before 'oh boy….'. Kakashi had to dodge at a faster pace and could see that some of the movements flowed easier than before, he even felt his finger tip slide a bit of his neck. 'Time to start the lesson'

Kakashi jumped away from Naruto and put his book away "lesson 1: taijutsu". With a quick jolt of speed Kakashi was on Naruto and sent him flying towards the river a bit with a kick to the head

Naruto flipped himself in the air and tried to land on his feet but the speed he was going forced him to roll a bit before he was back up on all four. Shaking his head, he looked to where Kakashi was supposed to be but couldn't see him.

"**Leaf Village Secret art: One Thousand Years of Death" **Naruto heard this from behind and quickly turned his head to see Kakashi with his fingers flying towards his ass. On pure sheer instinct he used the **Kawarimi **to replace himself before it made impact and he replaced himself with….Sakura.

"AAAAAAAaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh" the scream was heard throughout the village

Sakura was launched into the air holding her ass in pain and ungracefully fell to the ground still holding it with anime tears flowing from her eyes "I can't marry Sasuke-kun anymore….wwwaaaaahhhh"

Kakashi was still in his crouched position with his fingers still together in the air blinking at what just happened 'impressive use of the **Kawarimi**'. Thinking he should just move on the next lesson, and seeing his original target he just walked up to the fallen girl and stood in front of her "lesson 2: genjutsu" and Sakura was placed under a genjutsu where she saw Sasuke wounded and close to death and for the second time that day the village heard the scream of the Kunoichi.

As Kakashi turned around he saw Sasuke making an attempt when he was distracted in doing the genjutsu. His eyes widened when he saw Sasuke going through the hand signs for a fire Jutsu ' he shouldn't have the chakra for that'

Finishing the hand signs he yelled "**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu**" and released a giant fireball towards Kakashi

Kakashi saw this coming and turned towards the Pink haired girl behind him only to see Naruto jumping down to pick the girl up and jump away 'well done Naruto'

Sasuke saw that the fireball made contact to Kakashi and smirked thinking he had beaten him.

As Sasuke walked to the small crater the fireball made he heard a voice "Lesson 3: Ninjutsu". Sasuke looked around to find the owner of the voice but heard it more "**Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu**". Sasuke saw a pair of hands grab his ankle before he was brought down into the ground, buried chin deep. Sasuke struggled trying to get out of the dirt as he saw Kakashi stand over him "well Sasuke-kun that was a fast fight, though it was an impressive fireball" 'though you need to work on your aim!'

Sasuke looked at the burning ashes in the crater and saw that it was a log that was hit and turning to ash 'grrr damn it! I can't get out! Damn him'

As Kakashi saw the struggling Uchiha he was about to leave to see if he could find Naruto and Sakura but stopped when he saw Sasuke stop struggling and looked at him with a smile, a smile that doesn't belong to him. And then he poof into smoke. Kakashi stood there for a second before he realized 'that it must have been Naruto who **henged** into Sasuke and replaced himself with Sasuke. Clever'

Kakashi looked to the clock to see that there were 45 minutes were left 'hmm plenty of time for them to try something but to his surprise, all 3 of them walked up to him. He looked at them and noticed some things, Naruto still looked determined but had a confident smirk, Sasuke was covered in dirt and looked like he was about to kill the blonde and Sakura was still holding her ass in pain and shuffling more than walking "well this is unexpected. Are you guys going to try again?"

Naruto just shook his head as he pulled something out of his pocket. Lifting his fist in front of him with the palm down, he opened his hand and let the bells dangle while being held by his index finger and thumb. Kakashi's eye widened as he put his hand on his belt to fee a pair of bells still there but after pulling them off and looked at them they both poofed away. Kakashi looked back at Naruto and saw a smirk on his face as he tossed them into the air and caught them again.

Kakashi was surprised by this and just shook his head a bit "well done Naruto, you were able to get the bells but when did you get them and how?"

Naruto's smirk grew more "well….it could be when you were standing in the field, it could be when we fought, it could be when you were focused on the fireball, heck it could be now" Naruto's smirk turned into his foxy grin "but it was the second you said "start""

Kakashi thought back to the start of the test but realized NAruto didn't do anything except jump into the forest and then he thought about his fight with Naruto and remembered something he said "_Just to let you know Kakashi-sensei! You have already lost!". _'...but how?'

Naruto just smiled "I will keep it a secret for now sensei" 'take that! A bit of payback for being late. So focused on use at the start didn't even realise that my clones in the forest swapped places with the bells'

Kakashi figure he would find out later so he went on "ok Naruto-kun who are you going to give the other bell to"

Naruto looked at the bells for a second and nodded his head.

Sasuke thought that he would get one because he was Naruto's better and it made the most logical sense

Sakura was not sure about it but just looked at Naruto

Naruto put one bell in each hand and tossed them behind him to Sasuke and Sakura "both of them" he said with a smile

Kakashi was stunned at this and widened his eye 'did he figure out the meaning of this test?' Kakashi thought not knowing the real reason for the choice

Naruto held his smile as he thought 'with these 2 becoming genin and I get the chance to go back into the academy, I can handle that now that these 2 won't be around'

Kakashi just eye smiled started "well I just have one last thing to say to you….YOU ALL PASS"

All 3 of the genin stood there in shock trying to figure what they just heard "WHAT!" was screamed by the pink haired girl but the sudden movement caused her to collapse with her butt in the air wincing from the pain and Naruto was on the ground holding his ears

Kakashi waited for the 2 to get back up and explained that the purpose of the exercise was to work together "...and thanks to Naruto who had both of your backs and saving you from a tight spot you all showed good teamwork although you do need to work on it a bit"

Sasuke hated the fact that it was Naruto that made them succeed and not him

Sakura hated Naruto fro what he did to her during the exam but was somewhat grateful for his help in passing. Though Kakashi didn't tell her that Sasuke had almost incinerated her

Naruto was somewhat happy to pass but inside he was whining 'why!? I was so close to getting away from these 2! Why did he have to pass all 3 of us?!' he thought as a chibi Naruto popped up on his shoulder crying in a fetal position rocking back and forth

Kakashi eye smiled at the 3 and finished up "well now the is the start of team 7, tomorrow we will start on our missions but before we start I want all of you to meet me here at 7 AM, because I have one more lesson to give you before we start missions" ' and it would be better if all of you are back to walking speed and upright' he thought as he saw the girl trying her hardest to stand up straight'

Naruto growled a bit at the man and in a low voice he spoke "don't be late this time Kakashi-sensei or I will make you suffer"

Kakashi wouldn't have taken that threat seriously but for some reason he began to sweat a bit "O-ok *ahem* well I will see you all tomorrow morning" and with that he poofed away

With his Sensei gone Naruto began to walk back to the village with Sasuke following his lead seconds later. Sakura would have asked Sasue out on a date but she at the moment wanted to go home and grab a pack of ice

* * *

~Konoha streets~

Naruto was walking with bags in his arms and making his way to his final stop. He had to **henge **into different people to enter the stores to buy his supplies without too much trouble 'ok I have everything I need. Now I just have one last stop to make before I am completely set'

As he was walking he stopped as a smell his nose, it had a small bit of a familiar scent and it was coming closer if his nose was correct. Looking around he found that the smell was coming from 2 females on the other side of the street and walking in the opposite direction. He looked at the 2 and saw that one was a woman who possessed fair skin and long, dark-purple hair slightly past her waist and side bangs framing her face down to her shoulders, she had a gentle smile on her face almost making her look like an angel. She was wearing a purple, long-sleeved kimono and the other was a little girl who looked 7 years old who looked a lot like the woman but with long brown hair that went to the middle of her back and with long parted bangs with a single lock of hair falling into her face. The little girl had a stern look on her face but on closer inspection she had a small smile while holding the woman's hand. What got Naruto's attention on the 2 were that they had white pupilless eyes and bared a resemblance to Hinata and then it hit him on why they had a small but of the familiar scent; they must be Hinata's mother and little sister.

Naruto would have gone to talk to them but they seemed to be enjoying their time with each other so he decided that he need to at least get their scents, so he went into an alley and made a clone to take the bags he was carrying. Once the clone had everything he jumped to the rooftops he made his way to be a good distance in front of them and got back to street level and began to casually walk in their direction. After a minute they were close and as he walked past he made sure to memorize both of their scents without making any other moves he kept walking towards his final destination 'ok I have their scents and now to get the last piece I need'

* * *

Chapter end

Well what do you guys think? Too much? Too little? What did you think of the fight

Honestly I am not sure if I rushed this a bit but here it is

Skipped Sakura and Sasuke's apartment visit since it will be exactly like canon

And I am thinking of what to call Naruto's taijutsu style

And for the thousand years of death I kept going back and forth with who to get hit but I decided with Sakura because she hasn't been hit before from Naruto's switch

Also just to say this I don't hate Sakura. Yes I find her annoying for most of the first part but in Shippuden she gained use but was underused

Please read and review


	13. Bad morning for everyone

Ok I forgot to add this in earlier chapters but when Naruto is in the Mindscape he will be in his fox form

Also I found out that the first iteration of Naruto was that he was actually the son of the kyuubi, and here I thought that it was a fanfic idea. Now if you will excuse me I must go find the manga for it

And to admit I look up on characters description sometimes for character introductions

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

(author comment) - not a lot of them

_flashback/memory_

_{reading text}_

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

Chapter 13: Bad morning for everyone

~Council chamber after the Genin test 3 PM~

The Hokage was in the council chamber with the 3 council elders, waiting for the last of the Jonin instructors to arrive, to give there report on their teams. In the room were several Jonin senseis of civilian genin and then there were the 2 senseis of clan heirs. The first one was Kurenai Yuhi. Kurenai was a fair-skinned woman of slender build. She has long black untamed hair reaching her upper back, red eyes, with an additional ring in them. She wore make-up consisting of red lipstick and purple eyeshadow. Her outfit consisted of a red mesh armour blouse with only the right sleeve visible and was wrapped in bandages with a pattern similar to rose thorns, both her hands and upper thighs were wrapped in bandages as well.

The second clan heir sensei was Asuma Sarutobi. Asuma was a tall man, with brown eyes, tan skin, short black spiky hair, and a beard. His clothing consisted of the standard Konoha ninja uniform with the sleeves rolled up halfway, a flak jacket, shinobi sandals and a sash that had the kanji for "Fire" (火) marked on it around his waist, a pair of black bangles, and bandages wrapped around the arms of his sleeves. He was the son of Hiruzen the third Hokage.

After waiting for a few minutes Kakashi walked and looked around "Sorry. am I late?" he said rubbing the back of his head, thinking that he arrived late as usual

Hiruzen just chuckled and said "not at all Kakashi. In fact you are just on time"

Everyone was staring at Kakashi like he had grown another head and wings. He was never on time unless it was a mission or if an important delegate had arrived and yet here he was, strolling in right on time

"I had actually told everyone except you to meet at 3 instead of noon so that you would arrive on time for the meeting" Hiruzen said with a mischievous glint in his eye

Kakashi was a bit surprised that he was tricked but after how his new genin team did he just felt like it was an off day for him "ok than, I am here to report on my teams genin test"

Hiruzen nodded his head and let Kakashi make his way to the line of Jonin instructors in front of him "well we shall begin, I would like the civilian instructors to proceed first"

"Team 1: failed, but show some potential if they can get over their problems with their classmates either way they can try again next graduation"

"Team 2: fail, too many arguments there so they will go back to the academy"

"Team 3: pass, it helps that 2 of them were friends and don't have any problem with the 3rd, so they worked together"

"Team 4: fail, constant arguing, no good with those 3"

"Team 5: fail but recommend on passing the 3, although they failed to complete the objective in the timeframe they did work together fairly well I might add" Hiruzen nodded "very well I will examine their records and take your recommendation into consideration"

"Team 6: fail, kids thought it was a game"

With all the civilian teams finished Hiruzen turned his head towards the clan senseis "well let's hear how the clan heirs did"

Everyone turned to Kakashi and expected him to say that they failed and Hiruzen was waiting for it so the elders would start complaining about their Uchiha not passing but what they heard was not expected

"Team 7: pass….."

Hiruzen waited for a few seconds but after he said nothing he brought it up "Kakashi-san, would you please elaborate on that"

Kakashi sighed, not wanting to do this but he knew he had to "well the team has much to be desired one of them didn't even have the chance to do much since she fell to a simple genjutsu and another launched a jutsu that would have injured the unconscious kunoichi but the last one saved the kunoichi and ot out of the way. It was because of the last one that they passed since he saved the other 2 and did better than I thought in a taijutsu match"

Hearing this, both Homura and Koharu looked like they just heard that their child became Hokage and won the lottery. Koharu couldn't help but speak "it only makes sense! Uchiha-sama is the most promising genin we have and this just shows that the Uzumaki Child should not have been allowed to become a genin if he uses jutsus to attack the kunoichi" she said saying Uzumaki like it was a poison

Kakashi knew he should have elaborated and shook his head before he clarified "no. the who did the best was Naruto Uzumaki"

Everyone other than Kakashi and Hiruzen looked surprise at this piece of news "what are you talking about Kakashi-san! You can't be serious!" said Homura thinking that Kakashi lied about it

Kakashi began to explain most of the details of the exam, leaving out the slitted eyes and the boy removing his sandals thinking that it would cause too much for the hokage and the boy "...and after the 3 of them were in front of me Naruto pulled out the bells showing me that he got them and with about 45 minutes left though from what he said he obtained them the moment the test started by replacing them with **henged **clones with the **Kawarimi**"

Some of the Jonin Senseis were impressed hearing that the boy had made his own Taijutsu style that could prove deadly but most of them just thought that the fox was taking over (oh the irony)

Both Kurenai and Asuma were impressed hearing this, wanting to meet the kid sometime

Homura wanted to deny everything that Kakashi had said thinking that he was lying but was stopped by the Hokage speaking "well that is impressive Kakashi-san, please work on them as best you can. Now let's move on shall we"

"But Hokage-sama we need to discuss…." Homura stopped when Hiruzen glared at him making sure the elders stopped

Kurenai stepped forward to continue the reports "*ahem* Team 8: pass, they were able to track me down and get through the genjutsu apart from Kiba but he was helped by his teammates" she said with a smile

Hiruzen nodded pleased to hear this and turned to his son

Asuma stepped up "Team 10: passed, Ino was the one to get the other 2 to put in some effort and Shikamaru made good use of traps and Choji's muscle to distract me, leading to my capture"

Hiruzen was pleased to know that more teams than he expected passed "well done. Thank you all for your reports, you are all dismissed and prepare your team for their missions". After this was said all Jonin senseis bowed and left the Hokage and 3 elders in the chambers.

They all stayed there in silence for a minute before Danzo decide to break it "Hiruzen-san, I wish to bring up a matter that we have yet to fully discuss"

Hiruzen knowing where this was going decided to once again put a stop to it "No Danzo, you will not take Naruto-kun under your wing, and Sasuke-kun will remain on the team and will not be given special privileges!"

Koharu did not like this "Hokage-sama, we should let Danzo take the _Uzumaki _child so he can keep him under control and Kakashi should focus on Uchiha-sama's training"

"So are you to tell me that Kakashi-san should focus only on Sasuke-kun and ignore Sakura-chan just because he is the last of the Uchiha clan and that Danzo should make Naruto-kun a mindless slave that would be loyal to him! No this matter has been brought up many times and for all those times I have denied them all. This discussion is over and the answer will always stay the same Danzo. NO!". After that Hiruzen left the chamber.

Danzo was seething on the inside 'damn you Hiruzen! I will have my weapon! One way or another! But for now, you can have your pet

* * *

~Training ground 7, 7:10 AM~

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were waiting for their sensei and all of them were hoping that they didn't have to wait for another 3 hours. Naruto was in a happy mood. He had spent most of the night getting everything ready for the Hyuga clan and although he only got about 3 hours of sleep, he was ready and with the help from his clones he finished making the last thing he needed, even if he got injured a lot 'hope your ready Hyuga clan, because I'm ready and you will rue the day you gave that order

After 5 more minutes of waiting Kakashi had made it to the training ground "mornin everyone"

Naruto saw that Sakura was about to give her usual greeting but stopped her by speaking "Sakura-san! Yes he is late but only by what? 15 minutes, compared to the 3 hours from before so I think it's fine and you should too"

Sakura just glared at Naruto while Sasuke just gave a "hn"

Kakashi just eye smiled "well now that we are all here, follow me" and they all started walking back to the village streets

* * *

~forest path of Konoha~

on a certain path through Konoha was a kunai shaped monument meant for commemorating the fallen shinobi. Other Shinobi come to it to show respect to their fallen comrades and some civilians come to it for showing respect to the fallen heros. This is where we find team 7, standing in front of it. "This is the Memorial stone. This was made to honor the fallen shinobi, shinobi that had died in the line of duty, protecting the village and it's citizens from enemy ninja and other threats"

All 3 of the genins listened to Kakashi as he explained what was expected from the shinobi. To give their lives protecting village, to serve for the betterment of the village and to listen to the rules given "one thing that is taught to us is that we should give everything for the mission…..but I don't believe that". That had taken them by surprise

Sakura was confused with this as it contradicted what he just said "but sensei, you just said…."

Kakashi shook his head "yes I did say that we should do everything for the mission….but should we abandon our comrades to do it?" that made her stutter a bit trying to find an answer but she couldn't. "My father once had a mission that was considered suicidal but during the mission he abandoned the objective to save the lives of his comrades and due to that he was ostracized by his fellow shinobi"

Naruto didn't like hearing this because to him Kakashi's father made the right choice "They have no right to do that for him doing that! He should have been praised for saving their lives!" he said as he lifted his fist to be in front of him

Kakashi smiled behind his mask, Naruto's reaction reminded him of his old teammate Obito. With a sigh Kakashi turned to them "most wouldn't agree with you Naruto, but there are a few that would…..and to me I do". Naruto calmed down a bit and lowered his fist "In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, and that's true, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum". Turning to fully face the 3 he finished "I hope you guys take this to heart, especially since your ninja career. Now let's head over to the Missions office to get our first mission"

"Yeah Dattebayo!"

"Ok sensei"

"Hn"

And with that they all left to start getting there missions

* * *

~1 week later~

Team 7 were at the moment doing another d-rank mission much to their ire. They were pulling out weeds of one of the civilian's garden though they had some trouble when Naruto came into sight. After being threatened to be blacklisted and to never again allowed to put in a request, the citizen let them continue. Naruto was actually enjoying this mission since he enjoys many forms of gardening but he hated some of the other missions such as the one 2 days ago where they had to paint a fence. His nose hurt for hours and not even going into his mindscape and talking to Kurama made him feel better, but this mission changed that.

Sasuke and Sakura were both hating this mission and both were glaring at Naruto who had a smile on his face as he pulled out another weed.

Kakashi was just leaning on the side of the house reading his book "remember everyone, the better you work together the faster this will go" he said making two of the 3 to grumble

Naruto just kept smiling, not only from gardening but also due to what he was going to start tonight. Tonight was the night where he infiltrated the Hyuga clan and began the clan wide prank. He would have started a few days ago but he needed to see the guard shifts and he learned that there is an open time frame for him.

* * *

~That night 1:24 AM~

Naruto had just finished setting everything up. He had to be thankful that everyone but the guards were asleep and that they didn't use the Byakugan unless the alarm was set off. He had some close calls with some patrols that almost saw him in the hall but thanks to his years of hiding from the Anbu, he knows how to hide in the shadows. He was making his was to a certain room, and was following his nose, until he found it and cracked open the door. Quickly going in and closing the sliding door behind him he walked up to a dresser on the side of the room making sure not to wake up the occupant and placed a small box about a foot and a half in height, width and length. Taking one glance at the occupant he left through the door, hopped to the rooftop and left the compound before he was seen.

Stopping a few rooftops away he took one last look at the compound "enjoy your morning Hyugas, because that will be day 1" and with a evil laugh Naruto went home

* * *

~Hyuga compound, 5 AM~

Hiashi Hyuga was just waking up from an uncomfortable sleep. Normally he would not have any trouble waking up at this hour, since he always woke up early to prepare for the day but he had a foreboding feeling about this day, like if he walked out the door he would walk into hell without no way to stop it. He brushed these feelings aside and went to get his dress robes and towel so he can bath in the Hyuga bathhouse. Opening the door of his room, the foreboding feeling had doubled and now he felt wary, like he was about to be attacked.

As he walked down the hall towards the bathhouse he kept looking around for any movement but all he saw were the guards still standing at their posts. He decided to ask from where he was "have you seen anything out of order here?". The branch member gave a polite bow "no Hiashi-sama, everything was quiet during the night apart from the usual street noises". Hiashi nodded "very well. Wait at your post until the morning shift, than you may go and rest" and seeing the branch member bow to him he went on his way.

Making it to the bathhouse without trouble he calmed down a bit. He disrobed and began to wash himself before he entered the water to relax in the warm waters. Deciding to wash his hair last, he grabbed his usual shampoo bottle and started to lather it up and began to wash it.

Now clean he made his way into the water finally feeling the sense of dread wash away…..well until he heard multiple screams coming from the main compound. Jumping from the water he grabbed his bathrobes making sure that it was secured, he left the bathhouse and saw many Hyuga members, both Main house and branch members, being attacked in multiple ways. One of them had ended up with a beehive attached to his back and running around trying to avoid being stung another male member had somehow ended up in pink tutu. Looking to his left he saw that one of them was being dragged by a rope into a gap under the elevated wood floor, screaming as if he was being dragged to hell. He heard someone struggling above him and as he looked, he saw a female main house member glued to the ceiling and unfortunately the lower part of her robe was not secured, showing all who passed by her a good look at her black panties. Hiashi immediately looked down just in time to see his nephew Neji Hyuga gagged with his hands and legs tied together behind his back, hangin from a tree and his face painted like an Oni, complete with long nose somehow attached.

Seeing all the chaos he looked down the hall to both his daughters rooms and made his way just as they both opened the door "Hanabi! You are to remain in your room not matter what" looking further down the hall coming their way was Hiashi's wife who looked unharmed "good Hitomi! I want you to stay with Hanabi make sure nothing happens, Hinata I want you get dressed and afterwards you are to stay with your mother and sister with your Byakugan active is that understood!". Hinata nodded understanding her fathers intent "H-hai O-otou-san". Glad to hear his daughter understood his orders Hiashi was about to run back until Hitomi stopped him "Hiashi-san, what happened to your hair". Hiashi was confused about this but hearing the continues cries for help he put it aside and ran back to his office while giving all the Hyuga members orders to help the the others once they are freed from whatever trap they were in. as he ran past another member that was covered in feathers he made it to his office

As he opened the door he saw something flying towards his face and he barely dodged the projectile and swiftly stepped into the office not noticing the tripwire at his feet which caused him to stumble backwards to a snare tah lifted him upside down until he dangled there, after which a ceiling tile moved asie and dropped down a mirror with a message written on it "the fox's eyes are on you, now you will suffer his wrath". After reading the message Hiashi looked at his reflection and noticed his hair was no longer the normal dark brown it used to be, it was now a bright Neon Orange that look horrible in his eyes "How in the world did this happen!"

* * *

~Back with Hinata~

Hinata had just finished getting dressed in her usual attire, and tried to mentally prepare herself for any enemies that might threaten her family. As she was walking to her door she noticed a box on her dresser that she knew wasn't there yesterday. Scared about what it was she walked cose to it hoping it wasn't a trap, the orange ribbon tied into a bow on top of it only made her a little less wary but what made her drop her guard was a little slip of paper attached to the box that had a picture of a chibi Naruto with his foxy grin giving a peace sign. Gathering her courage she picked up the box gently and pulled the lid off and what she saw made her gasp a bit, reaching inside she pulled out a foot tall plush fox doll that had black markings on it,blue button eyes, had 5 tails, and looked handmade. On the foxes head was a folded note, pulling the note off with one hand while the other held the doll she opened the note to read 3 words {_I forgive you_}. After reading it she felt tears streaming down her cheeks, and held the doll close to her chest "Arigatou Naruto-kun"

* * *

~5 days later~

Needless to say the Hyuga compound was in chaos. It wasn't just that morning when it happened, through the days that followed the Hyuga compound never had a moment's peace and even those that chose not to stay in the compound found themselves being struck while out on the streets, whether by snares, pitfalls, paintballs, or for some reason woman running up to them calling them perverts and slapping them in the face. Now everytime one of them went out they would have their Byakugan active which unnerved the civilians but they wouldn't let up, however, if they turn it off for a second they would be hit. It got so bad that a lot of them became superstitious, so much so that if they saw a black cat, they took the long way around. Kakashi was happy now that one of his excuses was valid. Hiashi was not seen in any meeting for a while and the Elders never left their rooms saying that their clothing were much too inappropriate tobe seen in, and when they absolutely had to leave their rooms everyone tried to hold in their laughter from the ducky outfits, princess outfits and speedos. They could not get new clothes because they would disappear the next morning.

The only ones that were never hit were Hinata, Hanabi, and Hitomi and although Hinata knew who it was that was doing it she never told anyone because she didn't want to get Naruto in trouble and she thought it was a nice way for some payback for ordering her not to be friends with him.

Naruto, at the moment was at Tenten's weapon shop not only getting a refill on his equipment but also heard that Tenten's team sensei was rivals with his sensei "ok so this Gai person is a crazy nut that loves to scream about youth..." Tenten shivered at the word "and challenges Kakashi everytime he can?". Tenten nodded her head "yeah he is ….eccentric…. about it and makes up these crazy training regimens"

Naruto nodded his head thinking he could somehow use it for his next target but he stopped when Tenten gave him a glare that made his blood freeze "Naruto! What the hell are you doing to the Hyuga clan!" she said as she pulled out a kunai and looked ready to pierce his head with it

Naruto shook his head trying to make himself innocent but the longer the glare held the faster his defense crumbled "...what makes you think that anything is happening to the Hyuga clan….?"

Tenten was mentally marking her target "one of my teammates is Neji Hyuga, and he's barely been showing up for team practice and when he does show up he looks like he was traumatized and I heard about the pranks going on through the compound and even if they don't know who, I have a gut feeling that you are the one doing it!"

Naruto gulped and hoped he would see tomorrow "I will be stopping it soon, believe me, it won't last much longer" he said as his voice kept getting higher as he continued to talk

Tenten just put away her Kunai away for now "fine but you better stop soon! Now what is it you want with Gai-sensei"

Naruto was glad to see the kunai gone and made a mental note 'find a way to get my stuff in another store until their month pranking is done'. Clearing his throat a bit he answered "I want to know how he is so I can use it in a **henge** prank against my sensei". Seeing Tenten almost pull out another kunai he continued in a quick pace "it's just that he is always 3 hours late and I want him to have a reason to be on time so I thought this would be good motivation for him!"

Tenten just let her hand slip off her kunai pouch and took a breath "ok I can probably bring you along if we have the time so you can meet him but you do anything funny, and you will lose something that can't be replaced!"

Naruto just nodded his head so fast that she almost thought that it would fly off "good"

* * *

~2 days later~

Never again. Never again was Naruto going to learn anything from Gai-sensei. Gai was a tall and well-muscled man. He had fair skin a strong jawline, a somewhat large nose but his most noticeable feature was his shiny bowl-style haircut and thick eyebrows. He wore a green jumpsuit, orange striped leg warmers, and the standard Konoha flak jacket, which he left unzipped. His red Hitai-ai was worn around his waist like a belt

He had considered himself lucky that this Neji person, wasn't there, most likely from one of his clones getting him in a trap somewhere but when he met their sensei, the first thing that caught his attention were the big fuzzy caterpillars he uses for eyebrows, and he swore that he saw legs on them as they moved.

Naruto had gotten what he wanted from the man, he got his personality, which was the polar opposite to Kakashi's laid back attitude but after he got enough he was volunteered to join Gai-sensei's and his clone Rock Lee's training sessions. Rock Lee had shiny black hair in the same bowl-style haircut as Gai, round eyes with prominent lower eyelashes, and very thick eyebrows. He wore a green jumpsuit, orange leg warmers, and a red Hitai-ai worn as a belt. He had bandages around his forearms up to his fingers. Lee was actually a cool guy to be around and learning that he had no chakra was a great surprise. They were on the opposite spectrum of ninja skill, one being a ninja who couldn't use chakra and another being mostly made of chakra and both aiming to be great ninja but even with his abundant energy and chakra reserves to allow him to keep up, the attitude between the 2 bowl-style haircut Shinobi had mentally drained him, and Tenten had apparently saved him from their devastating sunset genjutsu when she covered his eyes right before they did it. Based on what she had told him, he owed her big time.

But now Naruto had 2 things to use against his Sensei: Gai-sensei and the little orange book that he keeps seeing his sensei giggle at. The lengths he went to for a prank. Kurama himself was even mortified from seeing the memory of it and told Naruto that of he ever wore green spandex that he would lose the ability to taste any Ramen for a month, needless to say Naruto swore to the "Kami of Ramen" he would never wear green spandex.

Naruto was resting at the training ground by himself since his team had the day off from missions and team exercise. He was trying out a new move that uses shadow clones and he was having trouble doing it without messing up but he was making progress "I almost have it, but it's still too tricky to use in a fight". As he was laying on the ground he caught a familiar scent 'I know that smell *sniff sniff*...it smells like…..snakes…..and Dango…...uh-oh' he than found himself wrapped up in snakes being dragged towards the forest but stopping just before he entered

"Well well well Gaki, seems like you are hard at work" spoke Anko who dropped from the tree and landed next to him "and all without little old me….*sniff* I'm hurt"

Naruto struggled, trying to get out from his snake binds "Anko-Neechan can you please let me go, I'm a little tired right now"

Anko just crouched down next to him "hmmm nope! Especially not after what I learned last night from Ayame-chan"

Naruto felt his stomach drop as he looked at Anko "*gulp*…..W-what d-did you learn from Ayame-neechan?"

Anko just grinned "well she ran into me on the streets on her way home at night and after some convincing we both ended up at my favorite bar. She can't handle Alcohol at all, I mean after 2 sips she was really talkative and when we started talking about you, she told me something interesting about you"

Naruto was right now sweating and panicked "Anko-neechan! Please don't tell anyone about it! I'll do anything you want but please don't tell anyone about it! Kami please!"

Anko just smiled like a cheshire cat getting what she wanted "good then lets go!" she said as she dragged the still bound blonde back to the village

* * *

~Konoha streets~

Ino was walking back home from her team meetings and she was in a bad mood. "How the heck was that a team meeting if all we did was eat at the barbeque and Asuma-sensei playing Shogi with Shikamaru, UGH! Now I have to go work at the shop grr". As she continued, she nearly missed Anko who was still dragging Naruto walk right passed her. Pausing trying to think about what she just saw, she turned to look at the weird sight and then catch up with the 2 "hey um Naruto?"

Naruto looked up to see Ino walking at his right side "oh hey Ino-chan. Haven't seen you in a while but it's good to see you again".

Ino would have said the same but she didn't expect to see Naruto again….being dragged by a purple haired woman that had him wrapped in snakes "well I would say the same but am I um…..interrupting something?". Ino didn't know why but it hurt her a bit when she said that but she kept a straight face.

Naruto just looked confused at this but shrugged it off "well not really. From the direction we are going I would say that Anko-neechan is forcing me to buy her dango at her favorite shop". Ino lifted her head from looking at Naruto to look at the bac of Anko and Naruto who was looking up at Ino, noticed something "hey Ino?". Ino looked back down at Naruto "when did you get an earring?" Ino lifted her hand to touch the earring on her left ear "it was a gift from Asuma-sensei saying that it was a tradition for the Ino-Shika-Cho to get them". She looked down to see Naruto smiling at her "well it looks good on you". Ino blushed a bit at the complement and turned her head away to try and hide it

Anko who was listening to all this turned her head a bit to see the small blush on the platinum blonde and decided that she would torment the boy a bit even if it wasn't right now "hey girly, come over here for a sec". Ino was startled out of her moment and walked a little faster to walk next to Anko "yes, what is it? ….and my name is Ino!". Anko just waved it off and leaned in to whisper into Ino's ear but paused when she remembered Naruto's super hearing so instead used her free hand to pull out a slip of paper and pen, placing the ben in her teeth she wrote a message and gave it to Ino "just a little something for you to know but keep it a secret for now"

Ino looked at the message that said {_when you want to see something cute, rub Naruto's whiskers_}. Ino was a little surprised at this and she wouldn't deny that when they first met she wanted to pet Naruto's whisker marks but Naruto said it made him uncomfortable so she decided not to but with this little incentive she wanted to know what would happen since she didn't know and if there is one thing Ino hated it was not knowing something especially when it caught her attention.

Anko patted Ino on her shoulder to pull her out of her thoughts "well anyway girly, me and the Gaki here should get going, he owes me a whole Anko size serving of dango and sake!" and so Anko began to walk faster leaving Ino who slowed to a stop behind

Naruto grumbed at hearing Anko and as he passed Ino he turned his head to look at her "Anyway, I'll catch you later Ino!"

Ino stood there for a second before turning around to head to the shop and after a few steps she paused "Damn it! I should have asked how Sasuke-kun was doing! Grrr"

* * *

~Next morning Kakashi's house~

Kakashi was sleeping in his bed without a care in the world, dreaming about reading the next issue of the Icha Icha series. In his dreams, the pages were filled with perverted words and he kept giggling at what was written. He was really excited as he read and the characters were about to continue their deed {_oh Elizabeth, I want to hear you say something for me}_. Kakashi knew it was going to get a heavy {_Elizabeth….I want you to say….YOOOOUUUUTTTHHH}_.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH" Kakashi screamed, waking up from the nightmare and breathing heavily "*pant* ….*pant* what horror was that? Thank god it's over"

"My eternal rival! You shouldn't be wasting away the minutes!"

Kakashi froze when he heard a voice that shouldn't be at his house. Mechanically turning his head to the side of his bed he saw someone he didn't want to see in the morning. It was Gai posing as if he was stepping on something and pointing to the sunrise

"Kakashi, you and I should embrace our youth and run into the sunset! Now embrace me so we may go together making our flames of youth burn brighter!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

* * *

~team 7 training ground, 7 AM~

Team 7 were waiting for their sensei to arrive. 2 of them figured that Kakashi was going to be late again but 1 knew he wouldn't be late this time. Naruto was holding back both a laugh and a chill from what he did

"Hey dobe! What the hell are you smiling about!" Sasuke said from the post that he was leaning on with Sakura standing next to him.

Naruto just smiled at them and said "you will see soon enough"

After a few minutes Kakashi landed in the training field out of breath and looked like he had see horrors beyond anyone's imaginations.

Sasuke and Sakura were looking at Kakashi, thinking it was an illusion of some sort as they both yelled out "KAI". opening their eyes they saw that it was still there, they tried a few more times until Naruto walked up

"Kakashi-sensei! Your here! Good, than we can start our missions!" Naruto said in a cheery voice

Kakashi just slowly nodded his head "yes we should start our missions for the day, let's get going everyone" and than he began to zombie his way to the Missions office followed by his 3 genin

Naruto smirked as they walked 'now that was funny, but what should I do for next time?'

* * *

Chapter end

Well that was the start of the Hyuga clan prank though I'm not sure if I should have added more for it

This chapter was more of a filler, a soft introduction to a few characters and to show that Danzo still hasn't given up on getting his weapon

I also wanted to get some more interactions with Anko, Ino and Hinata since I felt they haven't had much screen time

Speaking of which the {I forgive you} bit from the note that was on the plush was more of an answer to Hinata's apology at he got from the graduation day

Anyway it's still in the air about who Naruto ends up with, either Hinata or Ino or if i can make it work both, but I want to build something between the choices instead of having it just be a spontaneous occurrence, and just to let you know Anko, Ayame, Hana are not meant for it, they are older sister figures only

Ino right now is still a fangirl for Sasuke but I'm making it so she feels something but not sure about it yet

I'm hoping I'm not rushing things in this since it felt like a lot was done in this

Please read and review


	14. A painful solution

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

(author comment) - not a lot of them

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Before we start, I want to apologize for adding Inner Sakura in the demon thoughts section late in the fic I had actually forgotten about her before I started the fic and didn't know how to separate Sakura thoughts and inner Sakura, I hope this doesn't confuse people so much and I will go back to fix this in earlier chapters

* * *

Chapter 14: a painful solution

~Konoha streets 11 AM~

Hinata was walking through the streets of Konoha with her mother Hitomi and her little sister Hanabi on a family outing, heading to the park after they got some treats since it was her day off from team training. Hinata was enjoying a cinnamon bun while Hanabi and Hitomi were enjoying their vanilla crepes. As they were walking Hinata began to think, It had been about 3 weeks since Naruto began to prank her clan and forgiving her with her new favorite possession. Everyone in the compound were now either locked up in their room or so alert that the jump at the sight of a falling leaf, but for some reason it all stopped 2 days ago. Hinata was worried that something might have happened to Naruto but she hadn't talked him since graduation day. She had seen him train a few times but she didn't have the courage to go and talk to him and the order from the Hyuga elders was always there in her mind.

Hinata realized that they had made it to the park so they can sit down and enjoy their treats and the 3 of them made it to a bench that was set underneath a tree.

"Onee-chan is something the matter?" hanabi asked after they sat down

Hinata looked at her little sister wondering why she would ask that "why do you ask Hanabi-chan?"

Hanabi just looked at Hinata's hand "you haven't even taken a bite from your cinnamon bun in the last few minutes and you looked like you were thinking about something"

Hinata was about to deny that something was troubling her but her mother had placed a hand on her head "Hinata-chan what is it? If there is something worrying you, you know you can tell me. Is it about what has been happening at the compound?" Hitomi asked her daughter in a gentle voice

Hinata just looked up with a small smile "no, really I'm fine Okaa-sama". Hinata just went back to eating her cinnamon bun and enjoying her time with her mother and sister.

* * *

~meanwhile with Naruto~

Naruto was laying in a tree with the leaves hiding him, as he was in his fox form with his tails waving around leisurely and his head laying on his paws, thinking about what he would be doing that night. He knew it was extremely risky to be outside and in a public place in this form but he was more comfortable as a fox and since his team were not doing missions today he chose to just laze about, but he couldn't enjoy it since he was nervous about tonight.

'I don't know if I can do this, I mean, the way tou-sama made it sound, just makes me want to not do it. *sigh* but I have to'. Naruto and Kurama had talked about a solution to his henge issue and the solution was brought up but Kurama had told Naruto that the solution was going to be painful.

Naruto was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard talking "Onee-chan is something the matter?". Looking down from his tree he saw that is was Hinata and her family, without her father. Naruto felt wrong listening in to the conversation but he couldn't really jump down and leave without causing problems, but he had to stifle a bit of laughter when Hinata's mother mentioned what was happening at the compound although they shouldn't worry anymore since he decided that they have suffered enough humiliation…...for now anyway. Either way he had another group to target now….the civilian council. He learned that it was mostly their doing on why he was on the team with a walking talking rock and siren who couldn't hear her own voice.

He saw that the family were going to enjoy their time at the bench right under him and he couldn't stay since he had something he needed to do with the Hokage so he came up with a way to get away without making it seem like he was eavesdropping. Using an henge to change back to human he just let himself fall out of the tree and ungracefully hit the ground face first "...ow". Sitting up while rubbing his eyes and giving a yawn, he made it look like he just woke up from a nap.

The Hyuga family were startled by the loud THUNK and sudden movement from the tree. Standing up and turning to it they saw Naruto sitting on the ground rubbing his eye.

Seeing the blond boy, Hinata's face looked like it was Kawarimi'd with a tomato "N-n-n-n-naruto-kun!" she tried everything in her power to not faint especially since he was sitting like a dog while he had a sleepy look on his face which to her looked cute "w-w-w-what a-a-a-are you d-d-d-doing h-he-here?" she asked while poking her index fingers together, looking at her feet while catching small glances at Naruto.

Hitomi saw this and gained a gentle smile seeing that her daughter had a crush on the boy. She knew the boy was the Jinchuriki but she didn't hold anything against him since it was not his choice to become one and he didn't deserve the hatred the villagers gave him on a daily basis. Turning to the boy she smiled and gave a small wave "Good morning young man. You shouldn't sleep in tree like that, as you have just learned, you could fall and hurt yourself." she said in a small lecturing tone but gentle enough not to seem like she was reprimanding.

Naruto looked at the woman and was shocked that he didn't feel negative emotions from the woman, something Kurama clarified he felt from people. "It's ok I'm tougher than that so I wont get hurt from falling from the tree dattebayo!"

Hitomi smiled more hearing his verbal tic and thought he was a nice boy (she doesnt know he is the pranker of the compound). "Is it safe to assume that you are friends with my daughter Hinata?"

Hinata felt a bit of depression when her mother asked him that, having a small thought of him denying it for her ignoring him for those years, but what he said made her smile and blush even harder

"Yeah! I am" Naruto didn't have to think about it since he had learned why she did what she did and didn't blame her for it, which is why he left her the fox plush with the note. After he said that he saw Hinata's little sister hiding behind her mother's leg but still had the stoic hyuga face but Naruto felt ambit of anxiety coming the girl "hi, What's your name?" he said as he lowered himself a bit so he could be at eye level.

Hanabi just looked at him from behind her mother's leg for a few moments before she walked from behind in and stood a bit in front of him and in a stiff proper tone she speaks "my name is Hanabi Hyuga. It is a pleasure to meet you" she gives a bow when she is done and when she stands back up she sees Naruto tilting his head with his eyes closed, looking like he was contemplating something.

After a few seconds of this he gave a big foxy grin "hi Hanabi-chan, it's nice to meet you but you shouldn't be so stiff"

Offended by this, she was about to retort but in a blink of an eye Naruto was behind her and started to tickle her. Trying her hardest not to laugh she tried to get away but the tickling had caused her to collapse and burst into laughter. After a few seconds of laughing and tickling Naruto let her up and gave another foxy grin "see! You look better smiling instead of being all stiff and stone faced". Hanabi didn't know what to think about the older boy, he seems like someone that would get into trouble just because it would be fun but Hinata doesn't seem to mind that 'what's so special about him?'. Hanabi had seen how Hinata acted around him and knew that she had a crush but just couldn't see why. After catching her breath she got up and straightened her kimono and glared at the boy who looked like he had no care in the world, that just made her puff out her cheeks in frustration

Naruto would have continued but he had to get things ready "well it was nice meeting you all but I have to get to the Hokage-jiji, so I'll catch you later" and then he began to run off towards the Hokage tower but as he was running he turned his head and waved "see you later Hinata-chan!"

Hinata blushed and just gave a small wave and was also a little disappointed that she couldn't talk to him a little more. Hitomi just walked up to stand next to her "he seems like a nice boy, I hope that next time we will be able to speak with him more". Hinata just looked up at her mother and nodded her head. Hanabi just puffed her cheeks more "hmph he seems like an idiot to me"

Hitomi just patted Hanabi on the head "Hanabi-chan be nice"

* * *

~Konoha streets~

Naruto had come to a slow pace on his way trying to think about what to say to the Hokage. He knew what the conversation was about but it was the build up to it that kept him nervous. So into his nervous thoughts he had slightly let his mask slip while on the streets because of the hatred he felt from everyone around him. A look of fear was now on his face. Eyes kept darting left and right as he looked to the ground, a small bit of shaking, and his breathing increased a bit. All the civilians that were looking at the boy like they had won a battle

'Look at the demon shake in fear. He should be afraid of us!'

'Serves you right you monster!'

'Whatever happened to cause this, he deserves it'

The civilians kept these thoughts in their head and a few of them started to get up from their seats to or started to walk to the boy thinking they could corner the boy.

Walking towards Naruto was a Hyuga that kept his Byakugan on making sure that he wasn't caught off guard. As he kept walking he saw the growing group of people gathering behind Naruto and just scowled at the boy as he kept walking. He thought his luck was bad seeing the demon brat on the street, and unconsciously turned off his Byakugan, which was his mistake. Out of nowhere the Hyuga was snagged by a snare that was somehow on the ground with no ones noticed and he was dragged into an alley screaming to high heaven "AAAAHHHHH! Help me! HELP ME!" he screamed, clawing at the ground as he was pulled into the darkness of the alley.

The people that were behind Naruto changed their attention to the yelling to see a Hyuga being pulled into the alley. As they started to run to the entrance of the alley, they stopped there looking into the darkness listening to the scream and some sounds of swooshing, squishing, hard thuds and grunts.

Naruto jumped at the screams and noticed that a lot of people were looking into an alley. 'Whats going on over there?' he thought to himself before he suddenly got a set of memories of what just happened. 'Oh looks like I missed a few clones….pfft. I gotta remember to go to that store again to get another set of fairy costumes. Especially with the council now being a BIG target'. With that he left behind his last victim and the unknown building mob as the victim had made it out of the darkness to show pink fairy wings, clown makeup and waterfall tears going down his face.

* * *

~15 minutes later at the Hokage tower~

Hiruzen was sitting at his desk going through paperwork and was glad that it wasn't too much trouble and only had dealt with 15 documents that had to do with Naruto. Speaking of the boy he had heard about the whole Hyuga compound fiasco and he knew that Naruto was the one responsible but since Naruto wasn't doing anything threatening to the clan, he let it go….that and there was no evidence that it was him. 'How does this boy keep getting away with this? With all that he has done and gotten away with, he should be on an infiltration team'. He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard a knock on the door. "Come in". Lifting his head to see who it was, he was shocked to see Naruto walk in like a normal person with a look of apprehension. The look got him worried but with Naruto knocking before entering instead of his usual kicking the door open made the old man extremely concerned. Placing the paper that was in his hand down he looked at the boy with a concerned look "Naruto? What has you in such a mood?"

Naruto looked at the hokage and spoke "Hokage-sama, I need to speak with you alone"

Now Hiruzen was close to panicking thinking that someone might have learned Naruto's secret and with a wave of his hand his Anbu guard that he had hidden in his office popped up "Anbu would you please leave us for a while until I signal you to return". The Anbu squad were hesitant for a second but all bowed their heads and left the room.

As Naruto saw that the Hokage was about to put up a privacy seal, he felt and heard something "Hokage-sama wait!". Seeing the Hokage stop he closed his eyes and listened. Focusing he could hear the Hokage's heart beat which was sped up a bit but he had heard another heartbeat that was extremely steady and felt a small sliver of anxiousness as well and it wasn't coming from the old man. "What about the Anbu in the ceiling?" Naruto asked as he looked up to his left.

Hiruzen turned his head to look at the ceiling in the direction that Naruto was looking and flared his chakra to signal his Anbu to re-enter the room "Anbu! Capture our unwanted guest!" as this was said another Shinobi came down from the ceiling, wearing a black cloak that covered most of the body and an Anbu stye mask that looked like a bear but had "Ne" on the forehead signifying it was a Root agent. The Root agent jumped through the window to try and escape but the Anbu team had pinned the agent to the roof on the lower levels. As the Anbu were detaining the Root Agent, it started to convulse and spasm for a few seconds before the agent burst into flames. The Anbu had jumped back in time to avoid the flames and stood there looking at the burning corpse for a few seconds before using a Suiton jutsu to put the fire out.

Naruto stood in the office shocked about the event "Hokage-jiji! What just happened?!"

Hiruzen was furious to see that there was a spy in his office but knew who it was from but now that the body was in ashes he would gain nothing from this 'damn you Danzo! You are trying my patience! But you will slip up sooner or later and when you do, you will not live to see the next day'. Taking a deep breath he turned to Naruto "it is an issue that I have been trying to rectify for some time now and thanks to you I have removed an unknown issue. But anyway we should go about what it was you wanted to say". Turning to the few Anbu that remained in his office, he gave his orders "well done Anbu. Would you please take what you can and see if Ibiki can find anything" he said glad that Naruto hadn't seen the body or it's death.

Naruto, looking at the broken window, shook his head, trying to get back to the matter at hand "um….Hokage-sama, I really need to talk to you but can we do it somewhere that doesn't have a hole in the window?"

Hiruzen nodded his head, leaving the room and motioned Naruto to follow.

The 2 made it to the council room and Hiruzen spent a few minutes checking the room to make sure that they were really alone "ok Naruto, what is it that you wish to ask me?"

Taking a deep breath, Naruto looked at the Hokage and standing up straight, with his hands behind his back and in the best proper manner he could, he started "Hokage-sama, I would like to request a select few shinobi to assist me in a personal matter that I have to accomplish".

Hiruzen felt his heart stop for a moment when he heard this. Here was the most unpredictable ninja, someone who would never show respect to any authority, was right now showing the amount of respect and proper manners that you would expect from a loyal soldier. So unbelievable was the scene that he put his hands in a seal and said "Kai". opening his eyes to see the same thing he tried several times "kai!...Kai!...KAI!". He finally made the conclusion that this was not a genjutsu he repeated what the boy had asked and decided he would find out what this was about "ok Naruto. What is this about asking for several shinobi's assistance?"

Naruto kept his posture and went about his request "I will be doing something that could…." before he could continue Hiruzen stopped him by lifting up his hand telling him to stop "Naruto please stop this, I cannot see you act like this, it doesn't suit you and you said this is a personal matter so please just ask me like you would normally ask"

Naruto had slumped his shoulders and his arms had dropped to his sides and he let out a breath like he was underwater and came up for air "oh thank Kami!"

Hiruzen smiled at this, knowing that the boy wouldn't be able to keep going like that "now please continue"

Naruto looked up and with a nervous chuckle "well….I am going to be doing something tonight at my apartment and I need the few who…...know my secret to be something like a guard so that nothing will disturb me"

Now Hiruzen was concerned about why he would need a guard "ok Naruto you are to tell me what it is that you will be doing and then I will give you my decision"

Naruto was sweating now, trying to find a way to tell the old man what he was about to do without telling him that he was doing this with Kurama's help 'now what?! Ok, ok, you can do this'. "Well you know my henge right?" seeing the Hokage nod he continued "well I have a way to fix the problem, so my secret doesn't get out like if someone hit me and the henge drops and before you ask I can't tell you where I learned this but I can tell you that where I learned it isn't bad"

Hiruzen could only think of several possible places the boy could learn something that could help him with the problem, something that he himself had not been able to solve "Naruto I need to know where you learned this"

"Hokage-jiji it's really ok and it is safe and…."

"Naruto" Hiruzen said in a stern voice saying that this was not for debate

Naruto was shuffling his feet under the gaze from the Hokage and felt really small, regardless of him being mostly Biju.

"Naruto" Hiruzen said again making Naruto just look at the ground and just told a half truth

'Oh kami please let this work' "Well…...I have talked to Ram…..the Kyuubi….". Before Hiruzen could start to yell, panic, or scold the boy, Naruto stopped him "Wait jiji! It's ok! Let me explain!"

Hiruzen noticed the slip up but kept it in his head for later and stay on topic "Please do!"

"Well….I met the Kyuubi a while ago and he said that he would help me with this problem. He um…. Said that if the ….villagers saw me as my fox form they would attack and kill me and to avoid losing his life as well the Kyuubi said that he would help me with a way to change my form so that I am in a human form but he said that it will hurt …..a lot"

Hiruzen did not like this. Not only did Naruto meet the Kyuubi and not tell him but this whole situation screamed problems. He didn't regard the boy meeting the fox when he was a little child since at that time Naruto coudnt even attempt to release him right now Naruto could very well unleash the fox if he was manipulated to do it "Naruto! You are not to listen to anything the fox says! For all you know he could use this to take over your body"

"THERE'S NO WAY HE WOULD DO THAT!" Naruto yelled before he could stop himself and quickly covered his mouth

Hiruzen was shocked at this since he didn't expect Naruto to disagree so adamantly, and it made him want to know what Naruto was hiding so looking at the boy with a stern gaze he asked "Naruto what makes you say this? And why are you so quick to defend the Kyuubi" he said looking into the boys eyes with slight anger and disappointment

Naruto wanted to be anywhere but here, however he knew he had to come clean a bit "The Kyuubi isn't evil jiji" taking a deep breath he steeled his nerves but still felt afraid of this "he actually is nice and doesn't hate me or the village. He actually….became my fat….friend and he just wants to help me, jiji" he said with some tears in his eyes afraid that the hokage will do something to seperate them.

Hiruzen wanted to disbelieve this, to say that it was all a lie but the look in the boys eyes said that everything that was said was true but he still stayed wary "as much as I would like to believe you it still seems too risky to just listen to the Kyuubi"

"But Jiji….!"

Hiruzen raised his hand to stop him "even with what you say, I cannot allow you to do this…." he saw that the boy was getting more depressed "not without someone of my choosing to be part to your guard". Naruto looked up at the hokage after he heard this "I will add a jonin that is aware of your secret and is the only jonin that knows your secret" 'apart from Anko and Kakashi but Kakashi believes that what happened to you was reversed….perhaps I should inform him so he may help you if something were to happen'. He knew he was taking a risk but when it came to the boy, he should never expect things to go the way they should 'it's times like these that I just feel like an old man watching his grandchildren doing the impossible….which is true'. He looked into the boys eyes once more and asked "are you absolutely sure that this will work"

Naruto stood more resolute "he hasn't lied to me ever since we met, saved my life, played with me when I was a kid, listened to me when you weren't able to and he wouldn't do anything that would be bad for me"

Hiruzen just took all that was said and decided that he would allow this and pray it wasn't a bad decision "very well, who is it that you wanted?"

* * *

~outside Naruto's apartment that night 9pm~

Naruto had been waiting for the people he asked for and was pacing back and forth.

It was around 9:30 when they arrived and Naruto saw the people he asked for and was glad that the Hokage had actually gone with this. Looking at the group, which consisted of Iruka, Anko, Hana and Inoichi who the Hokage chose to be part of the group

Everyone had a look of confusion when they arrived because the Hokage didn't tell them anything other than Naruto needed some guards during this night but that was it. Anko was the first one to speak "ok Gaki, why did you ask us to guard you? Did the Hyugas finally figure out that you were tormenting them the entire time?" she said with a huge grin on her face

As a few of them chuckled as they had witnessed some of the pranks on the street but Iruka was shocked at this since he hasn't seen any of it "What! Naruto!"

Naruto just looked sheepish at this but he wanted to get things started "sorry Iruka and thanks everyone for doing this for me. I will be doing something that will cause a lot of noise and I'm afraid that people might take this opportunity to do something, so I asked you guys who know my secret to make sure that no one will do anything."

Hana was concerned by the way he said it, like he was sure that he would be attacked or something "Naruto-kun what will you be doing?"

"I was told a way for me to change myself for a while but I was also told that it will be loud"

Inoichi wanted to clear up his understanding a bit and see how far the others knew "did the kyuubi tell you?" Naruto looked at Inoichi not wanting the others to know that he was talking to the fox "it's ok Naruto, I know about him, even met him when you were first turned into a bijuu fox and he seems extremely protective of you, like a father" he said, with the last bit with a knowing smile

The others who heard this were shocked and worried that the boy was talking to the demon fox but the way that Inoichi who said he met the fox and still lived to tell the tale, said that the fox was protective of the boy made some of them want to question the boy on the relationship between the 2 but Naruto looked shocked that Inoichi could know about him and Rama-touchan. He would have asked more but he felt a tug at the back of his mind which told him that Kurama was calling him "thank you again everyone" he said as he opened the door "and one more thing." he said getting everyone's attention "no matter what you hear in here, no matter how much you want to help me….please don't enter" he said in a serious tone. Seeing everyone nod their heads albeit a little hesitantly, he entered his apartment with one last "thank you"

As Naruto entered his Apartment everyone got into position with Anko by the door with Inoichi by her side. Hana on the rooftop and Iruka on ground level

Naruto had gone into his bedroom and sat down on the ground and closed his eyes as he entered his mindscape

* * *

~Naruto's mindscape~

"Rama-touchan! I'm here!"

Kurama had walked into the clearing that is usually where Naruto appears when he comes in the mindscape and looked at Naruto with a look of apprehension

"**Kit are you sure you want to do this?"**

"You told me about this and we already came this far so we should go with it! Dattebayo!"

"**I know I told you this but I also told you that based on how you are this could very well hurt you a lot!"**

"Yeah, you told me! But like you said the **henge **won't work and even if I am good at the **Kawarimi **I won't always be able to use it, so this is the only thing we can do. But if I don't need to I won't use it. You did say that this will only last like a few days so I can just use this when I need to"

Kurama just gave a defeated sigh, knowing that Naruto has made up his mind and he was cursing himself for bringing up this method. Leaning down he nuzzled his fox kit for a few seconds earning a small purr from Naruto "**fine kit, but after this you're to wait a bit before we do it again"**. Seeing his kit nod he decided that it was time to start '**I hope you can endure this kit because we won't be able to stop until it's done**

With the agreement they began, as Naruto was engulfed in red energy. A few seconds later he started to whine in pain

* * *

~real world, outside Naruto's apartment~

Everyone had set themselves for whatever could happen but not the sounds of an animal in pain they started to hear.

Hana was the first to hear it and he instincts told her that she needed to help out whatever was making the noise, however she remembered what Naruto said not to enter the apartment *whine yelp!* but this was going to be emotionally hurting for her.

Anko heard the noises but kept herself in place, but she didn't like the idea of the Gaki in pain, placing a hand on her curse mark thinking about what sort of pain the kid was going through.

Iruka had looked towards the apartment trying to think of anyway to help Naruto but knew that there was nothing that he could do.

Inoichi had flashes of the mob that had killed the boy when he was younger, and that because of them he has to go through so much more than the bright smiling happy boy should go through.

For 2 hours they stood there with the yelps being heard in the background but it was at the 2 ½ hour mark where it change

"YYEEELLP…..YEEELLL...ARRRRGGGGGGHHHH…...ARGH AAAAAAHHHHH"

That was what broke Anko as she made a move to enter the apartment but was stopped by a hand on the shoulder. The hand belonging to Inoichi "let go of me! I can't just stand here listening to this and not help him!"

Inoichi just held her in place "Anko-san you heard what he asked of us, we are to guard him as he goes through this and not to enter"

Anko just slapped the hand away and stared into Inoichi's eyes "I know what he asked us but why does he have to do this! Why can't we help him" she yelled at Inoichi while in the back of her mind she wanted to hurt someone else who had hurt the boy; Mizuki, who was still kept alive even if he was asking for death

Inoichi just turn his head to look at the street "we are" he said as he motioned his head to down the street to see a few people getting together and heading towards the screams and they did not look concerned

Anko who saw this found a bit of an outlet for her anger and frustration "these people are nothing but vultures looking for an easy target" she said through gritted teeth before she launched herself to the mob

Hana and Iruka had joined her in stopping the mob while Inoichi stayed guarding the boy. During the apprehension of the civilians 2 Anbu members popped up and helped out.

Tenzo and Neko who the Hokage knew had not hatred for the boy as well as being part of the search party when the boy disappeared had sent them to help out on guard duty, which the rest were thankful for the extra help in case some shinobi came to do harm to the boy. After all the civilians were subdued the Anbu had called in a squad to take them away

At 1 AM the sounds of pain had stopped and were now reduced to whimpers and Anko just burst through the door with Hana being worried that boy could have died with the length of pain he went through and when they entered his bedroom they saw Naruto laying on the ground convulsing in pain, covered in sweat and tears still streaming down his face. They also noticed that a small patch of fur on his arms were slowly receding into his skin but his nails were still long like claws.

Both Anko and Hana rushed to the downed boy, Anko gently put the boy's head on her lap and Hana used medical jutsu to see if the boy was alright. Iruka and Inoichi stood by the door with a look of worry but they wouldn't be able to ask what he went through, since he stayed unconscious for the rest of the night

* * *

~the next morning 5 AM~

After Naruto had woken up looking at the worried looks from Anko and Hana he felt like his entire body was made out of lead and given weights and thrown into a deep pool of water. Iruka and Inoichi had left an hour ago, with Iruka having to get ready for his class and Inoichi to report to the Hokage on what happened during the night.

Anko and Hana started asking the boy what happened and what was it that he did. And after 3 minutes of scolding and ranting he broke, especially since he was exhausted

"The Kyuubi had told me that my henge wouldn't work when in a fight since it would be dispelled so he told me that we need to change my body with chakra manipulation"

Hearing this caused the 2 to widen their eyes in realization. Chakra manipulation and Naruto was now mostly made of chakra which meant they manipulated his very body "but….but…."

Naruto nodded his head seeing that they got it "Kyuubi said that I couldn't do it so he did it for me. This won't last forever but we don't know how long it will last and that he will decide when I can go through it again"

Anko still wanted to ask but why would you go through it again!? Why did you have to go through so much pain just to be like this for who knows how long?!"

Naruto took a breath "I am mostly Biju now but one thing that is still organic are….my bones…"

Now they understood why he was in pain so much, his shifting was forcing his bone structure to change and such a thing would be excruciating. Hana had tears in her eyes thinking of what the pup went through even if she couldn't even imagine how much pain he went through "Naruto, you are never going to do that again"

Naruto would have argued but he himself didn't want to go through it again but knew he would have to but hoped he didn't have to do it a lot "...yeah"

Hana and Anko stayed with him until he left for his team training, in which they for their duties

* * *

~Training ground 7 8AM~

Sasuke and Sakura had been waiting for their sensei and teammate for an hour since they were told to arrive at 7. Sasuke was leaning on the center post with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face and Sakura, who was more frustrated than usual since her teammate was also late, was pacing back and forth on front of him and having a mental rant. 'That baka should be here! Why is he late?! Why is sensei late again?!' '**Cha! I'm going to beat their heads when I see them'**

After a few more minutes Sakura saw Naruto walking towards them "NAR…." she started to yell but stopped when she noticed how Naruto was walking. He was hobbling instead of walking, he was holding his ribs like they were broken and he was pushing through the pain, his breathing was heavy like he ran a marathon and then ran another one and he looked like he winced every other step. She had never seen Naruto so tired or beaten so much even during one of their training sessions with Kakashi "hey Naruto, what's wrong with you?" she asked in a normal tone

Naruto had finally made it to the other 2 when he heard the question and lifted his head to look at Sakura mentally thanking kami that she didn't yell, he didn't need any more pain "I trained way to hard last night and I haven't healed yet"

Sakura looked a bit worried about Naruto, she may have problems with the guy but she wasn't going to want the him to work himself while in pain

"Hm, if you are too weak to train, than you don't deserve to be a ninja" Sasuke said with a smirk

Sakura was a little put off with this, since Naruto looked like he was in pain and Sasuke was acting like it didn't matter but she just let it go just as quickly

Naruto just went to sit at under a tree and rest as much as he could until his sensei came 'I really hope he extra late this time….'

* * *

~3 hours later~

Naruto was on his hands and knees trying to catch his breath after his spar with Sasuke with Kakashi and Sakura on the side watching with the former having his nose buried in his little book. They had started the spar with Sasuke vs Sakura but that didn't last and afterwards it was Sasuke vs Naruto but thanks to how tired and sore he was he didn't last long either and it was only due to how stubborn he was that allowed him to last the 20 minutes of the spar

Kakashi had noticed several things from the spar: Naruto was slower, his moves were sloppy, he seemed to take more damage than usual, he wasn't using the **Kage bunshin** or the **Kiwarimi **like he normally would and he wasn't as enthusiastic as he normally was. Kakashi chose to give the boy a break "hey Naruto-kun, take a break for now."

Naruto was thankful for this and got up on wobbly legs and went to sit by the posts. After a few minutes Sakura actually walked up to him as Sasuke and Kakashi had their spar "Naruto what did you do last night that made you this weak?".

Naruto didn't know how to feel about the question. Either be happy that she wasn't yelling it at him or pissed at the way she worded it. Looking up through half lidded eyes he spoke to the girl in a dull tone "Sakura, you really should work on how you speak to other people, I can't tell if you are actually worried or just belittling me"

Sakura wanted to punch the guys head hard but before she even lifted her head she thought about previous times she did and ended up hitting someone else and although she realized that he was too tired to even try the pause made her realize that the way she asked the question does count as rude "sorry Naruto"

That shocked Naruto since not once had she ever apologize to him and a part of him thought this was some sort of trick to get something from him but he couldn't feel anything bad from her.

Sakura had sat down next to him and just watched the spar, not saying anything else to him. She had been thinking about how Naruto had come to the training grounds and the fact that he was like this because of training so much that he was still in pain from it. It made her think of her own training….or lack of it. She only ever trained when they had team training but apart from that she didn't do anything else to improve and yet the dead last of her class had been improving, and even though she still thought that Sasuke was better she knew, especially from the bell test, that she was behind Naruto.

After 10 minutes Naruto had to ask "hey Sakura, why do you like Sasuke so much"

Sakura who heard the question just went on a bit of a tangent "it's because he is so cool, and strong and is like a prince from a fairy tale ready to save his princess: me" she said with hearts in her eyes as she drifted into a fantasy world

Naruto was kinda creeped out with the flying hearts that seemed to pop out of her head flying everywhere,leaning away from the girl he wanted it to stop "do you really think so, cause I don't see it"

Sakura stopped her swooning and looked irritated "what do you know, your just a loser that can't match up to him!"

Wincing at the yell Naruto rubbed his ears 'why couldn't the shift lower my hearing' "Sakura if you haven't realized it yet he doesn't care about anyone but himself" Sakura was about to yell again but Naruto wasn't finished "and before you even start yelling about how I'm wrong and he is keeping all his feelings inside or shy or not showing it in public, think about every time you 2 talked and tell me 3 times he was nice to you because every time I saw you 2 talk he would just push you aside and say no to all the times you ask him out on a date because all he has ever said was what was in the stupid Uchiha dictionary I made" Sakura had thought about it and looked through her memories trying to find a nice memory between the 2 but as she was doing this Naruto had thought of something as he put his fist into an open palm in an aha moment "wait he has said mor like 'stay out of my way' 'your in my way' 'don't drag me down' don't hold me back' and 'I'm an Uchiha'. It's always 'me, me ,me' 'my, my, my'. He doesn't care about you or me so you should stop you fangirling before it gets you killed"

That last bit got sakura riled up "Sasuke wouldn't let me die, he would save me if I get in danger!"

Naruto even though his ears hurt from the yelling was furious that she still didn't get it, ans in anger he got on her feet grabbed her by the collar, lifting her so they were face to face and screamed "FOR FUCKS SAKE SAKURA! HE! DOESN'T! CARE! ABOUT! YOU! HE WILL LEAVE YOU TO DIE IF IT MEANS THAT HE ADVANCES AND BECOMES STRONGER! AND THE WAY YOU ARE GOING IN YOUR TRAINING YOU ARE NOTHING MORE THAN DEAD WEIGHT! YOU WILL GET YOUR TEAM KILLED IF WE HAVE TO SAVE YOU FROM EVERY DANGER OUT THERE" Naruto dropped her making her land on her ass. Taking a deep breath he spoke in a more subdued tone "and even if he did care and tried to save you, he could get himself killed in doing so. So get out of your fantasy and get back to the real world"

Seeing the tears forming in the girls eyes he knelt down "I'm sorry but you should know this. The memorial stone that Kakashi brought us to, should show you that."

Naruto started to walk away from the girl to sit under a tree on the ide of the training field. Although he hasn't lost anyone important to him, he knew what it was like when someone you care about disappears. Even though at the time he thought that it was just a dream, it still hurt when he couldn't see Rama-touchan again for 4 years

Kakashi and Sasuke had paused their spar when they heard the yelling and although they didn't hear it very well because of the distance the look on Sakura's face told them that they had a big argument that hurt the girls feelings.

Sasuke didn't think it was important and just wanted to continue the spar "forget them, lets keep going"

Kakashi just shook his head in a bit of disappointment

* * *

~Medical wing in I&T department~

Anko walked into a room, looking at the only occupant in the room: Mizuki.

They had kept the man alive but barely, whatever Naruto's chakra did to the man was not allowing it the heal properly and due to the size of the wound in the shoulder, they had to amputate the arm but even still the corrosion was slowly consuming the man. He left side was wrapped in bandages since it was slightly rotted. They had taken all the information from the man, from there being a spy and what he had done to his fellow shinobi on missions just to make himself look better. The man didn't deserve to live but on how much pain he was in they kept him alive as punishment

"Look at you, you look so comfortable like that" Anko said in a condescending tone

Mizuki moved his right eye to see who it was but couldn't speak since it would hurt him

"You know Naruto-chan has become a genin thanks to you. Him beating you up allowed him to become a genin through a field promotion"

this caused Mizuki to wiggle a bit in anger 'that demon brat! It's his fault that I'm like this! If I see him again I will kill him!'

Anko could read his thoughts through his reaction to what she said "you think that you will get a chance to attack the gaki again? Wrong. You won't ever leave this room unless you are in a body bag! But from what I hear you won't last much longer because of the poison in your system. A week maybe but that's it. It's a miracle you lasted this long but it's what you get for betraying the village, working for that snake bastard and hurting Naruto" Anko began to walk away from the wiggling man and as she made it to the door she looked back "we already got everything we could from you and although you didn't ever see the spy's face, we now know that there is one so thanks for that". She closed the door and left the dying man in the room

* * *

End of the Chapter

More things to clarify

I could not think of a way to get the hokage to agree with Naruto's request without telling the truth. Saying that he found a way to turn human without saying where would not work ever

Hiruzen has faith in the boy but still wary and worried about the whole thing

Naruto's shifting was done for a later concept that will be happen and I couldn't think of any other way for it to work, besides it's only establishing it for the later bit

It is NOT permanent

As for the pain for the shift, I figured that body changing like that would hurt and even though he is mostly made of chakra now I already had the idea of his bones still being one of the few things that still remained organic and the shifting should be slow since unlike being made of chakra, that could be manipulated, the bones would slowly change shape with the help of chakra

And no it's not the bone kekkei genkai

Naruto would obviously be tired after going through hours of pain like that. And his chakra levels after the shift will be at Uzumaki levels which is still pretty damn high

Naruto has 2 chakras that are his, his human normal chakra and his Bijuu chakra. With Kurama it would be a total of 3. At the shift he will be using human chakra that has a small mix of his Bijuu chakra

The Mizuki bit was done because I left his fate wide open and I forgot about him but when I remembered I thought I could use this to do the filler episode with him but than realized that it gives nothing really so just felt like I should cut him loose. Don't like anyway. He's an idiot

Naruto yelling at Sakura was something I wanted Naruto to do and to get Sakura to realize that Sasuke doesn't give a crap about anyone but himself and his revenge. I am basing this Sasuke from the What if episodes from shippuden and the infinite tsukuyomi from Tsunade's I think

A Sakura wake up call

Is Naruto ooc when doing that…..yeah but think, he still feels the negative emotions from the villagers he walks past which affects him and after dealing with what he did last night, anyone would just let loose a bit

Naruto doesn't hate Sakura, he just doesn't like her


	15. Consequences of an action

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

(author comment) - not a lot of them

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

Chapter 15: consequences of an action

~Hokage tower During team 7 training~

Inoichi had given his report on what had happened the previous Naruto's apartment. To say that the hokage was worried was an understatement, he wanted to leave the office immediately to see how the boy was doing after hearing that he went through hours of pain, although he didn't know from what, he would be sure to ask the boy later since he couldn't leave his paperwork. "Are you sure that Naruto-kun is alright?"

Inoichi nodded his head "yes from when I saw he was still alive but he was in a lot of pain. You should check on the boy when you can"

Hiruzen agreed, thinking he could meet the boy for dinner later. "I guess I'll have to meet him after I finish doing my paperwork, thank you Inoichi". Hiruzen nodded his head as he watched the Shinobi leave his office. after he was alone in his office he sat in his chair and giving a tired sigh he looked out the window and just thought 'Naruto what exactly is happening with you'

* * *

~Konoha streets after team training~

Ino was making her way back home after she had a 3 way sparring match with her team, and based on how she was stomping down the street, she was not happy "ARGH I can't wait till I get home so I can get the dirt off me! My outfit is ruined because of that free for all that Asuma-sensei made us do! I am so going to get him to pay for my next shopping trip!". She would have kept her rant going if it wasn't for the fact that she had bumped into someone, causing both to fall on their ass and due to her mood she was not in an apologetic mood "Hey! Watch where your…..Forehead?". The person she had bumped into was her ex-friend Sakura but she looked miserable

Sakura wasn't looking where she was going, in her depressed state she had been walking aimlessly through Konoha, not even sure if she was going home "oh….hey….Ino…." she would have called Ino by the nickname she usually used but she had other things on her mind

Ino had gotten up and looked down at Sakura. She had never seen Sakura look so depressed and Ino could see the puffy red eyes, which meant that she had been crying and even if they stopped being friends when they both liked Sasuke, she didn't like seeing her like this "ok Sakura, what happened? I haven't seen you like this before."

Sakura just got back up and just started walking again "it's nothing Ino". she would have kept walking but Ino grabbed her by the wrist and started to drag her away

"Oh no you don't! We are going to get you something that I know will cheer you up" Ino said heading off towards the shops. Sakura didn't have the energy to deny or escape from Ino, so she just let herself be dragged away

* * *

~1 hour later at an Ice cream parlor~

Ino and Sakura had spent 45 minutes on a clothing shopping spree but Sakura just wouldn't cheer up. Ino had even seen Sakura pick up a beautiful yellow Sundress that would have looked good on her and just put it back without even thinking about getting it. Ino decided that they would cut the spree short and go get a frozen treat, thinking that it would help, but so far it only brought up Sakura's spirits a bit.

Sakura had been staring at her ice cream for 7 minutes without taking a bite and Ino was really wanted to know what was eating at her "ok Sakura what happened that made you this sad?"

Sakura was startled by the question and lifted her head to look at Ino for a few seconds before she gave a heavy sigh and stare at her Ice cream again.

Ino was about to ask again with more force this time but she stopped when she had finally heard Sakura speak "Ino …..am I useless?". Out of many things that might have made Sakura this way, this was not on the list Ino had. She was taken aback from this question and wanted answers "Why would you think that Sakura? You are the smartest girl in our class, you got the title of top Kunoichi and are on a team with Sasuke….and Naruto"

At the name of her teammates, Sakura's eyes started to water a bit with the words from her blonde teammate

"_if you haven't realized it yet, he doesn't care about anyone but himself"_

"_every time I saw you 2 talk he would just push you aside and say no"_

"_FOR FUCKS SAKE SAKURA! HE! DOESN'T! CARE! ABOUT! YOU!"_

"_YOU ARE NOTHING MORE THAN DEAD WEIGHT!"_

"_even if he did care and tried to save you, he could get himself killed in doing so. So get out of your fantasy and get back to the real world"_

Sakura started to cry remembering how Naruto had yelled at her.

Ino got up from her chair and went to Sakura's side, gently grabbing hold of her shoulders "Sakura, tell me what happened"

Sakura lifted her head and looked at Ino "well it happened during training….."

Sakura had told Ino everything that happened when the team met from Naruto walking to them in his injured state to the spar and then to the conversation that they both had. After Ino had heard everything she was furious "HOW CAN HE SAY THAT TO YOU! He has no right to say that to anyone!"

Sakura wanted to calm Ino down a bit since she was thinking about what he said and was little by little seeing some truth in it, but it still hurt her "Ino….it's alright…." Sakura said in a quiet voice which Ino did not hear

"I am not going to stand here and let this slide!" Ino said as she started to leave the Parlor

Sakura reached out to stop Ino but she didn't move from her seat "Ino wait! Don't …." but Ino had already started running down the street to find Naruto 'I think he was right' Sakura thought as more tears rolled down her cheeks

* * *

~Meanwhile with Naruto~

Naruto was making his way to Ichiraku's to get some of his favorite ramen, thinking he would feel better after a few bowls….or 20 'why did I say that to Sakura, I mean it was kinda true but I feel like a jerk for yelling at her….I should apologize tomorrow before we start our mission". He was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt someone tap his shoulder, and turning he saw that it was Iruka looking at him with worry in his eyes "Naruto-kun, I was hoping to catch you" Iruka then noticed that Naruto was holding his ribs and became even more worried "you ok after….last night?"

Naruto nodded his head "yeah I'm fine, well I will be after I eat" he said after he winced

Iruka saw it and decided to treat the boy "I'll treat you a few bowls of Ramen. Come on"

They had made it to the stand and both were shocked to see the Hokage standing just outside waiting for them "hello Naruto-kun, I was hoping to speak with you over lunch about what exactly happened yesterday". Naruto didn't want to think about what happened yesterday since it hurt to think about it, not to mention that he was still in pain from it but he just agreed to it and entered the Ramen stand

Ayame had seen Naruto enter the stand and was immediately worried seeing him in pain and in the blink of an eye she was past the counter and by his side looking him over and asking questions about why he was hurt "Ayame-nee-chan it's ok, I just trained too much last night, really".

Unfortunately Ayame didn't believe any of what he had just said "Naruto! Don't lie to me! What really happened to you?! Were you attacked again?" she said in a stern voice, not liking how Naruto lied to her, when she was worried about the boys health

Teuchi had walked out to see the 2 and had heard some of the conversation but he also saw how the boy seemed to struggle to stand "Naruto you should really trust us enough to tell us the truth about what happened to you. We care about what happens to you"

Hiruzen and Iruka just stood back looking at the concern from the young woman and her father. Hiruzen began to think about the situation with the boy 'sometimes secrets can hurt more than the truth….*sigh* the boy has too many secrets in his life, maybe telling this one to those who won't care about it will help him and these 2 deserve to know about Naruto's problem but not the full details'. He looked to the boy who looked like he was trying to think of something to say "Naruto maybe you should tell them about your…. condition"

Naruto looked back to the Hokage with wide eyes "but Jiji….!"

Hiruzen lifted his hand "it is ok Naruto.I don't believe that these 2" he started while gesture to the Father and Daughter "will change their opinion on you, no matter what has happened to you, just leave out some of the more ….gruesome details, but I would like the entire truth about you and your friend"

Naruto was starting to think that he should have stayed home today with how the day seems to be going. He is in pain, he had yelled at his teammate after sparing with the teme and now he has to tell 2 people he cares about the truth as well as the Hokage his relationship with Rama-tou-sama 'how could this get any worse?'

* * *

~18 bowls of Ramen later or 20 minutes later~

Naruto had started feeling better after his 5th bowl and just kept eating till he was satisfied. As he was eating he had told Ayame and Teuchi about what happened on his 8th birthday and when he graduated but left out some of the heavier details. The 2 ramen stand owners were stunned silent when they heard what happened, with Teuchi clenching his fist in anger about how a people would do that to the boy and Ayame was in tears about how Naruto had died on his birthday.

Ayame moved away from the stove that had the pot of Ramen she was cooking and walked to the boy and gently hugged the boy trying not to hurt him "you shouldn't have to hide this from us, we wouldn't have changed our thoughts about you, otouto"

Naruto just enjoyed the hug, happy that they didn't change their thought about him. After they separated from the hug Naruto turned to the Hokage and Iruka who were sitting next to him. It was Iruka that broke the silence first "well Naruto, would you mind telling us what happened to you last night? What exactly did you go through that caused so much …..noise?"

Naruto had spent another few minutes telling them what he went through. He got the same reactions from the 4 listening as he did from Anko and Hana "YOU ARE NOT DOING THAT AGAIN!" all 4 yelled at him making the people passing by outside the bar to stop and stare at them, but when they saw Naruto they just scoffed and kept walking.

Naruto jumped in the air from the yell, hitting his head on the ceiling and fell on his ass, while he clutched his ears "ow….can you guys not yell please, I still have my hearing and my body is still sore!"

"Sorry" they all said looking sheepish

Hiruzen cleared his throat to get the attention from everyone "Naruto I would like it if you would not use that….method again. I will try and find a way for you….when I can"

Naruto nodded his head "I hope so, even I don't want to do that again" he said getting a few chuckles from the shinobi

* * *

After a few more bowls everyone had to go back to their duties and Naruto wanted to get some rest because although the ramen helped him he still felt sore and still held his ribs.

Walking towards his home with the thought of heading straight to bed 'almost home just a few miles'

As he was walking he stopped when he saw Ino walking in his direction and he could feel the anger coming off her 'wonder what's up with her'

As Ino came closer Naruto stood a bit straighter but still kept his holding his rib "Hey Ino-chan, is something wrong?" he said a little strained not only from the pain but from the negative emotions from not only Ino but the surrounding villagers

Ino got right into his face "you jerk! How could you say stuff like that to Sakura!" she said while poking him in the chest. So angry that she didn't even notice that she was hurting him

Naruto stood there for second after hearing what she said "Ino-chan wha…."

Ino kept poking Naruto's chest as she kept going, pushing him back a bit "and saying that Sasuke only cares about himself! How can you say something like that!"

Naruto gritted his teeth feeling his anger rising from the emotions and the words "I only said what was true! Sakura lacks training and only fawns over Sasuke but all Sasuke-teme cares about is himself and his revenge! He doesn't care about the Village, his team, Sakura or YOU"

*SLAP*

Naruto's head was turned harshly with eyes wide open. He slowly puts his hand on his left cheek and slowly turned his head to see Ino who still had her right hand swung to the side "You don't know anything! your nothing but the Dobe of the class!"

Naruto stood there, eyes still wide and hand on his cheek as he stares at Ino, but as he stood he could still hear the whispers

"Serves that demon right"

"Yeah put that monster in its place"

"How dare that monster bad mouth Sasuke-sama"

"Demon"

"Monster"

"Demon"

"Monster"

"Monster"

"Monster"

Naruto felt his anger rise with every word he heard and balling his fist, which caused them to bleed from his elongate nails, he got into her face "FINE! Believe what you want! See if I care!"

Naruto turned around to leave but stopped when he heard Ino say one more thing as she threw her arms down in anger "don't ever speak to me again!"

Naruto didn't turn to face her, he just turned his head slightly, still not looking at her and said in a softer tone "ok I promise" and he jumped to the rooftops to make it home faster ignoring the protests of his body

Ino just turned around and headed home, and everyone in her way just let her pass seeing the angry look in her eyes

* * *

~Naruto's apartment~

Naruto just barged into his apartment making the door swing hard, and he slammed the door shut. Ripping off his sandals, undoing his sash and throwing away his jacket he went to his sleeping corner in his bedroom corner and laid down on the pillow and blankets. He wished he was a fox right now, wanting to at least be comfortable with his tails but he was stuck as a human for a few days but he knew one way to be a fox again, so he closed his eyes wishing for sleep

* * *

~Naruto's mindscape~

Entering his mindscape and a bit happier he was a fox again he just ran towards where he knew Rama-touchan would be. Making it to where Rama-touchan was he just sat in front of the hollow tree waiting for him to come out. He didn't wait long as the second he got there Rama was making his way out.

Once out Kurama looked down at Naruto "**hey kit, your a little earlier than usual" **Kurama paused when he looked into the smaller foxes eyes and saw tears starting to form "**Kit….?"**

Naruto didn't say anything he just quickly walked passed Kurama to his tails, somewhat thankful Kurama lowered them, and jumped on one as he grabbed another with his paw and pulled it, forcing Kurama to move it to follow where Naruto wanted it. Naruto had completely covered himself with the second tail and didn't do anything else

Kurama would have asked what happened since he knows that the only time the kit does this is if he is sad but he stopped when he heard sobs coming from his kit. Kurama looked up to see the night sky of the kits mindscape was becoming cloudy with dark clouds and felt drops of rain starting to fall. He laid his head down to the side so he had an eye on where the kit was in his tails as just stayed that was as the sobs of the boy echoed through the forest that comprised his mindscape.

Kurama focused a bit to see Naruto's memories of the day and saw what caused this '**oh kit. I'm sorry' **he thought as he laid there

* * *

~Ino's house/flower shop~

Ino stomped into the flower shop walking past the counter, ignoring her mother who had a look of worry, heading to the back which leads to the Yamanaka compound, heading up a set of stairs and into her room. Once in her room and slamming the door she just jumped onto her bed that was on the straight ahead from the door against the wall and buried her face in her one of her 6 pillows. Lifting her head to look at her room, which was decent size room, a few feet away from her bed was a desk that had her makeup set, hairbrushes and mirror, across from it was a large walk in closet that held many different outfits, dresses and shoes that she bought when on her shopping sprees, the left of the closet 7 feet away from the foot of her bed was her shinobi gear that had some kunai, shuriken and a folded windmill shuriken hanging on a weapons rack hanging on the wall, below it was a chest that held some storage scrolls and pouches of different color if she ever chose to spice up her Shinobi look, in the corners of the wall where the door was were a coupe of plants that gave the room some more color. The walls were a light violet color with flower patterns at the base. Looking at the window that was next to her bed she saw a small flower vase that held that held a purple tiger lily: a gift from Naruto after he picked it on one of his forest trips.

In anger she picked up the vase and lifted it over her head ready to throw it to the wall. 'Stupid Naruto, stupid blonde haired idiot, stupid dobe!' she thought pulling back her arm to throw….but she couldn't. Bringing the vase in front of her she began to think about what had happened. She had just yelled at Naruto for what he said to Sakura and about Sasuke not caring about her….and when she thought about how Naruto reacted she realized that Naruto was holding his ribs which reminded her of what Sakura said: that Naruto was in a lot of pain when he arrived at their training grounds. She kept poking him in the chest and she remembered him wincing everytime she did it and then there was the slap 'why did I slap him?'. She remembered the hurt look in his eyes and the shock when she called him the dobe of the class.

She brought the vase with the flower closer to her chest "who cares about the idiot! Why should I care about him when all he does is make trouble for everyone and bad mouth other people"

"_When did you get the earring?"_

"_It suits you"_

Ino felt something wet on her cheeks and lifted her free hand to it to see it was water "...Wha...?". She then realized they were tears "w-why am I-I cr-crying?" her tried to hold in her tears, causing her shoulders to shiver and she then remembered the last thing they said to each other

"_Don't ever speak to me again!"_

"_Ok, I promise"_

Ino slipped off the bed and sat on the floor holding the flower tightly against her chest and cried "why did I say that? Why did he have to promise th-that?". One thing she found admirable about her fellow blonde was that whenever he made a promise it seems he would go to the ends of the earth to make sure it happens and now because of this argument she might have lost her closest friend. Ino sat there hunched over the flower and just let the sobs come out as they echoed through her room

* * *

~the next day team 7 training ground~

Naruto was sitting on at the edge of the river with his feet in the water,leaning back on his hands and with his eyes looking at the mountains in the distance but his eyes were unfocused. The world around him felt quiet, his ears could pick up the slow flowing water, the wind blowing through the trees and the birds chirping as they woke up but none of it registered in his mind. He just sat there, waiting for his team to arrive.

After while Sakura and Sasuke made it to the training grounds and they noticed Naruto sitting at the riverbank. Both of them walked over to the blonde with Sasuke being the one to try and get his attention "Hey dobe, what are you doing here so early?". Naruto didn't react to the question and still sat there. Sakura bent down to look at Naruto's face but her eyes widened a bit when she saw the blank look on his face "hey Naruto are you ok?" she asked as she waved her hand in front of his face

Naruto didn't even hear the questions asked him. He was startled when a hand on his shoulder shook him "huh? Wha?" he turned his head to see his teammates looking down on him "what is it?" he asked them in a subdued voice

Sakura was somewhat concerned about him now, yesterday he came looking like he was beaten down and now he seems like all the life was drained from him

Sasuke just scowled "tch, how long were you sitting there dobe?"

"I don't know. I think 2 hours…..maybe"

Sakura's eyes grew wide as she stood up straight "but it's 6 AM right now!"

"...yeah…."

They both just stood until Sasuke gave a response "hn" and walked away

Sakura stood there for a few seconds thinking about what to say but she couldn't think of anything since Naruto and her weren't really friends and she didn't know what made the blonde this way so she just left to follow Sasuke

Naruto sat there, unmoving and waited

* * *

~team 10 training grounds 9 AM~

Ino was dodging Choji's heavy strikes, trying to make sure she wasn't hit because although Choji's punches were slower they had strength. Shikamaru was on the side playing shogi with Asuma who was trying to think of the next move.

As she dodged and threw a punch to Choji's chest causing the pudgy boy to flinch, the memory of the argument she had with Naruto popped into her head which distracted her enough to not see the punch aimed for her head. She was sent a few feet away skidding on the ground which cause her to yelp in pain a bit and got the attention from her teammates.

Choji was the first to walk up "hey Ino, you ok? Sorry didn't think I hit you that hard"

"It's fine Choji. I was….distracted, that's all" Ino said as she got up and dusted herself off a bit

Shikamaru looked at the girl and noticed a few things about her: she looked tired, her eyes were red which would show that she had recently cried, her hair, even though it was in the usual ponytail style, looked like it was done quickly without the usual care she gave and she didn't put on her arms warmers (not sure what they are called). "Troublesome blonde, if you have some issue that distracts you, you should get rid of the problem, otherwise it becomes troublesome" was all he said as he went back to the shogi board

Asuma heard what Shikamaru said and looked at Ino and noticed the red eyes "Ino whats wrong"

Ino just shook her head "nothing Asuma-sensei"

Asuma took a drag from his cigarette "Ino. if something is bugging you, you should at least talk about it"

Ino huffed and went to the side since her spar was done and was now Shikamaru's turn to spar with Choji. She sat down and spaced out trying to get rid of the haunting thoughts in her head.

* * *

~3 hours later~

Ino was making her way home since today her team weren't doing missions this day. Ino had walked into the Yamanaka flower shop and would have kept going to her room but was stopped by her mother Noriko "oh Ino, how was your training today?"

Ino turned to her mother "it was fine….I'm just tired"

Noriko nodded her head, understanding that her daughters Shinobi training would tire her out. She remembered how her husband would come back from his training and missions "well you can rest up a bit but we I will need your help in the shop later"

Ino nodded her head thinking that working at the shop would get her mind off things. As she started to walk again her mother got her attention again "Oh Ino when you see Naruto again, please tell him that his order is ready for pickup when he can. With all the orders he makes, I'm starting to think he was to make a forest of flowers and plants in his home". Ino stopped and looked back to see that her mother was holding a potted flower that had a tag on the pot with Naruto's name on it. Ino walked up to her mother and gently grabbed the pot and looked into her mother's eyes and gave a sad smile "I'll give it to him the next time I see him" and walked away to her room.

Ino made it to her room and placed the flower next to the Tiger lili on her window sill. Sitting on her knees on her bed she looked at the 2 flowers, the purple Tiger lily and the orange Begonia, and she felt more tears going down her face.

"I'm sorry"

* * *

End of the chapter

This chapter went through 3 revisions before I felt it was right

The talk with Sakura and Ino…..I'm not sure how I did on it, part of me thought it was good but another part thought to slap me across the face, screaming "what were you thinking"

The fight between Ino and Naruto were the last idea I had and I went with it. Personally I think that Ino went overboard but I remembered that in essence they are still kids so they could overreact to small things and for Naruto, since he is in pain for hours, his mood would be foul, think of having a pebble in your shoe that you have to deal with but 100 times worse, and anyone would react badly after something annoying was brought up

I kinda feel bad that Naruto and Ino had to go through this but I have a reason for it. Also the flower bit came to me along with the fight

Also next chapter will be time skip whether to another point or straight to the wave ark because I think that I have been putting to much filler chapters, unless you readers like them but I have thoughts for the wave ark that I am excited to get to but man these filler chapters just keep coming out

Please read and Review


	16. A simple gesture

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

(author comment) - not a lot of them

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

This is a filler but I found it fun to write, so I hope you enjoy

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

Chapter 16: a simple gesture

It had been a week since the argument with Ino and three days since the shift had ended. Naruto had asked the hokage about a way to keep any noise from leaking out of his home and lucky for him the hokage had some privacy seal tags on hand, although they only could be used once. Naruto asked that he be taught how to do it with hand signs but he was told that it is a more advanced sealing skill to be able to use them through hand signs and would take too long to learn. Needless to say Naruto was grumpy hearing this.

The night he had to shift back, he used the tags on his room and got ready. He would have done it without guards this time because he didn't want to burden them with his cries of pain but the hokage would not hear of it since he was told of the mob that gathered the last time this happened. The Hokage had an small Anbu squad with both Yugao and Tenzo, Hana and Anko were also there for emotional comfort since the hokage thought that the sour mood he was his apprehension to changing back

Naruto had hoped that it wouldn't be as painful as before but when it started, he realized that he wouldn't even be able to tell which hurt worse because all that was on his mind was the burning, crushing and reshaping of his form

Now he was at his teams training ground sparing with Sasuke, dodging all of the Uchiha's attacks. During his time shifted into his human form, he had a hard time sparing with his male teammate and lost a lot of them causing Sasuke's ego to inflate, making him more arrogant and solidifying his superiority complex, but not back in his **henge**, he could fight like normal, beating the Uchiha without taking a hit

Sasuke was once again punched in the face forcing him to take a few steps back and spitting out a glob of blood "damn it Dobe hold still!" he said before throwing a right hook which Naruto dodged

Naruto ducked under the right hook and then blocked the left swing before he spoke "why should I even listen to that? If you want to hit something go fight with the post, that's more your level teme". Naruto was mad and it was showing with the scowl on his face and antagonizing Sasuke every chance he got. He wasn't even sure what he was mad at, was he mad at Ino for the argument, Sakura for telling Ino about what he said, Sasuke for being the reason for what he said to Sakura, the villagers for their hatred affecting him or himself for letting all of it get to him. He wasn't sure but he wanted to hurt something so he chose to use a the only new move he could get right

Naruto jumped back to get some distance and put his hands into his favorite hand sign "**Kage Bunshin no jutsu",** twenty clones popped up and made a circle around the Uchiha

Sasuke smirked, knowing he could handle them since they went down with one hit but his smirk dropped when every single clone and the original started to run in a circle counterclockwise around him "what the hell do you think your doing dobe?"

Sakura and Kakashi were watching the spar from the sidelines and Sakura was confused about what Naruto was doing but Kakashi looked up from his little orange book a looked in interest 'wonder what he's doing. He could be using it as a distraction but the original is in there as well so it can't be to give him a chance to attack, maybe to disorient Sasuke-kun? Would Naruto even be able to think of that?'. He got his answer when he saw Naruto act

Sasuke was looking at the running group turning around every other second to see what the dobe was going to do. He was suddenly hit in the back of his left shoulder hard enough to turn him around just to see nothing, as he was looking he got hit again in the back "argh, what the hell!". Sasuke kept turning around to see if he could see what hit him, he got his answer when he turned to his left just to feel Naruto's fist hit him hard making Sasuke fall to the ground. 'What the hell?!', he was then lifted up from a kick to his face and before he could even touch the ground he got hit again on the side, then in the stomach and then kicked in the arm and torso. This kept going for a few minutes until Sasuke hit the ground hard and stay there on the ground signifying his lose

Kakashi's eye widened when he saw what Naruto did 'his clones were not meant for distraction, they were the attacking force. The clones running makes you lose sight of where the original is, since the speed of the running makes the original blend in the with the clones and when Sasuke kept turning to find him, Naruto had one of the clones break from the group and hit him in the back before merging again in the gap left behind on the opposite side, that takes perfect timing. An attack can come from any side. Interesting move, if he used kunai, it could be deadly

Sakura couldn't really see what happened but she knew that Naruto's move was useful. She had been unable to talk to him ever since they saw him at the stream. She had spent a few days thinking about what Naruto had said to her and although she had gotten back to normal and considered all he said to be a lie she still had the small voice in her head saying that he was telling the truth, in turn she started trying to be nicer to him but Naruto for some reason stayed in a bad mood and she couldn't help but think it was her fault

Sasuke was now on the ground unconscious and Naruto just stood there with a scowl on his face as he looked at the Uchiha. After a few seconds Naruto just turned around and began to walk into the forest

Sakura and Kakashi who put his book away walked up to Sasuke and Sakura got on her knees to check to see if Sasuke was ok. Kakashi looked over to Naruto who made it to the edge of the forest "hey Naruto-kun, where are you going?". Naruto didn't respond and kept walking which got Kakashi to look down and sigh. He looked to Sakura and Sasuke "Sakura-san stay here with Sasuke-kun while I go talk to Naruto-kun" Sakura nodded her head and he lept into the tree branches and quietly followed Naruto

* * *

Naruto made it to a small clearing a good distance away from his team and chose to sit down and try and rein in his anger 'finally away from them' he took a breath of air trying to bring down his growing agitation 'that teme had anger and hatred rolling off him when he was losing and I can hardly focus with that in the air'. After a few minutes he sat against a tree and closed his eyes just to listen to the forest around him

It was only seconds later that Kakashi dropped from the trees, startling the boy "you know Naruto-kun, it's not nice to walk away from our team training exercises" he said as he gave his signature eye smile

Naruto glared at Kakashi for disturbing his calming moment 'I'm going to get you for this Kakashi-sensei'. Naruto got up from his sitting position and looked at Kakashi "I just needed a minute to myself Kakashi-sensei. Is Sasuke-teme ok" he said the last bit with a foxy smile and mock concern in his voice

Kakashi shook his head "maa maa Naruto-kun, you didn't have to go that far with the spar. He is unconscious right now and Sakura is taking care of him but we should get back and continue training"

Naruto just sighed knowing that he won't get any time to himself and started to walk back "fine but I won that spar. Don't forget to tell him that when he wakes up since he will demand a rematch thinking it was some mistake or something and I don't want to hear it"

Kakashi just pulled out his Icha Icha book and walked next to him "sure I'll tell him" he said in a disinterested tone

Naruto looked at the little orange book and got an idea 'I know how to get back at you now heh heh' he gained an evil look on his face but Kakashi never noticed

* * *

~meanwhile with Sakura and Sasuke~

Sakura had spent a few minutes cleaning up some of the cuts on Sasuke's face and in a quick decision put his head on her lap. Internally she was both giddy and worried, giddy at the fact that she had Sasuke on her lap but worried about how he might react 'what if Naruto was right? What if Sasuke-kun hates me? What if he only thinks I'm annoying'

As Sakura thought this, Sasuke woke up and bolted up, and stood up looking around "where is he!?". Sakura looked confused about the question but he kept going "Dobe! Where are you!? Come out here and fight me!"

Sakura just sat there looking at the angry Uchiha and Naruto's words went through her head again and it just made her depressed

"Sasuke-kun, you don't need to shout. We are right here and the spar between you two is over" Kakashi said as he and Naruto walked out of the forest with the blonde with his hands behind his head and a wide grin on his face and Kakashi just kept his eyes on the words in his book and nose buried in the pages. Sasuke just scowled at the two and was about to demand another match but Kakashi stopped him "well since our training is done, we should go and get our mission for today"

Sasuke just gave his usual "hn" with his scowl growing

Sakura got up and gave a small smile "ok Kakashi-sensei" but her smile seemed a bit forced

Naruto's grinned even wider "yes! Hope we get something good" he said as he pumped his arm in the air

As they all left the training ground, Naruto waited a few seconds before he asked "hey Kakashi-sensei!".

Kakashi turned his head to look at Naruto "what's up Naruto-kun?"

On the inside Naruto was chuckling evilly "when can we get a harder mission?"

Kakashi just eye smiled at the question "when I think the team is ready"

Naruto just shrugged his shoulders but kept his smile, which grew bigger when he saw Kakashi turn back to his book

Kakashi turned to his book and began to read in his head '...' '...' '...' '...' '...'. It took him a few seconds before his eye became as wide as a dinner plate as he realized that the words that he was suppose to be reading weren't there. In a panic he started to turn the page back and forth and then flipped through the whole book and realized that all the pages were blank. He started to sweat and stopped forcing everyone to stop and look at him as he kept flipping from the first page to the last and then in reverse 'where are the holy words!? Where is the scene with Taylor and Elizabeth in the rain!? Where is the scene in the hotel!? What happened to my PRECIOUS!?'

Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto watched as their sensei was on his knees and crying and looking through his book before all his color drained from his body before he collapsed onto the ground in a fetal position and gloom over him, dropping the book a few feet away from him. Sakura was the first to react and ran to him "Kakashi-sensei! What's wrong?". Sasuke limped up to his pathetic looking sensei 'what the hell is wrong with him?' neither of them noticed that the book disappeared in a small poof of smoke . Naruto turned back to the road and kept walking

After Naruto was a good distance away from his team he broke down laughing "hahahaha thats *gasp* what you get *gasp* hahahaha" out of the forest came a clone who was also laughing and holding a small book. After a minute he caught his breath and took the book from the clone who then dispelled itself , he then looked at the book and put it in his weapons pouch before heading back.

As he walked, he saw on his right, a tiger lily growing on the path and he stopped. He stared at it for a few seconds putting his hand over his heart feeling it hurt until he turned away and kept walking to the village no longer in a bright mood or caring if his team would get a mission today or not

* * *

~Konoha streets the next day~

Naruto was jumping from rooftops after he had asked the hokage if he could use another training ground since when he got to his team's training ground Sasuke was already using it, and Naruto didn't want to deal with him. His team had no training or missions to do since Kakashi was for some reason, unavailable 'maybe I should give it back to him? If he is going to be like this because he lost his precious book than we will never get stronger'. As he kept jumping he caught a whiff of cinnamon and lavender, which caused him to stop and look down to the streets below. After a bit of looking he saw Hinata walking down the street with her head tilted down and he could feel the anxiousness and depression (I feel like I use that word alot) coming from her. 'I wonder what's wrong?' he thought before jumping down to land behind her

Hinata had lost to her little sister again and got scolded by her father again and although her mother had tried to comfort her and tell her she shouldn't worry about it, she just felt like a failure 'I just can't h-hurt Hanabi-chan, even if t-tou-sama says it's necessary to remove your feelings to be a proper Shinobi, I am not able to do so'. So deep in thought she didn't even notice that Naruto was walking right behind her, first looking over her left shoulder before moving to her right shoulder

Naruto kept looking over Hinata's shoulder before he decided to get her attention "hey Hinata-chan!". Hinata was so shocked that she jumped a few feet in the air and gave out a loud "EEP". Naruto chuckled a bit before he got in front of her and held out his hand "sorry Hinata-chan, but I couldn't help myself"

Hinata blushed so much that her face was now red but she slowly reached up and took his hand and got up "i-i-i-it's a-a-a-a-alr-r-r-right N-n-n-n-naruto-k-k-k-kun"

Naruto chuckled a bit at how much she can change her mood in a second but that just reminded him of her sour mood a few moments ago "hey Hinata I'm about to head to a training ground Hokage-jiji said I could use. Wanna come and train with me?" he said as he pointed his finger in the direction he was heading

Hinata on her part had her mind stop for a second and through selective hearing she heard "come….with me" she tried her hardest not to faint but was so close to losing. She nodded her head slowly and was brought back from consciousness when Naruto smiled at her and grabbed her hand before tugging a bit to show his excitement "great let's go " and then she saw him jump to the roof to start their journey. She stood there in a daze for a second before she shook her head and in a panic, jumped after Naruto

* * *

~training ground 37~

Naruto and Hinata had arrived at the training grounds which was a wide circular field surrounded by trees, a simple training ground but Naruto didn't mind.

As Hinata looked around the training field she finally realized that she was alone with Naruto and began to blush again. 'I-I-I-I'm alone with N-n-n-naruto-kun' she began to twidle her fingers looking at the ground

Naruto turned to Hinata and let his curiosity beat him "hey Hinata-chan, what had you in a sad mood earlier when I found you?"

Pulled out of her thoughts she replayed the question in her head "i-it's nothing N-n-naruto-kun"

Naruto didn't like lying and it hurt him a bit when Hinata did it "Hinata-chan, please don't lie to me. Please tell me, maybe I can help"

Hinata was happy to hear that Naruto was willing to help her but became a little sad remembering what happened at her compound and with them being alone she felt like she could tell him "w-w-well N-n-n-naruto-kun….I-It was after me and H-h-hanabi sparred….."

_Flashback_

_Hinata was laying on the ground after she had lost another spar with her little sister Hanabi. Hinata got onto a sitting position as her father walked up to her_

_Hiashi looked down on his eldest daughter and gave a disappointed sigh while shaking his head "I expected more from you. You are older by five years and yet you fail to defeat your younger sister". Hiashi turned around and began to walk away "it's seems I overestimated you, such a disappointment"_

_Hanabi stood a few feet away looking at the scene and saw the hurt look her sister got from their fathers words but she couldn't say anything '...onee-chan' _

_One their father had left Hinata got up and left and after she got cleaned up and dressed in her normal shinobi attire she started making her way to the gate of the compound. Before she made it her mother had walked up to her with a sad look on her face_

_Hitomi had lowered herself to be at eye level with Hinata and placed her hands in her daughter's shoulders "Hinata-chan are you alright" she spoke in a soft tone trying to comfort Hinata_

_Hinata looked in her mother's eyes and nodded slowly and softly said "hai Okaa-sama. I'm going to go for a walk" and moved around her mother and walked out of the compound and made her way to the common streets of Konoha_

_Hitomi looked at the retreating form of her daughter and had a few tears building in her eyes "oh Hinata-chan"_

_Flashback end_

After Hinata had told Naruto what happened, Naruto made a decision 'I hope they enjoyed their prank free days because I'm going to make their last prank month seem like it was a party! Now both the damn council and the Hyugas will feel my wrath!'

* * *

~Hyuga compound Hiashi's office~

Hiashi was sitting at his office table going through his compound finances before he stood up straight, knocking away all of the paperwork and he felt a chill run up his spine as well as a familiar sense of dread 'oh no! I have to warn the others!' and he went out to meet with the Hyuga elders but he was cautious and as he got out of his office he pressed himself against to wall and shimmied his was slowly to the Hyuga elders room

* * *

~back with Naruto and Hinata~

After Naruto made his choice to prank the Hyugas again he turned to Hinata who was sitting on the grass and had a few tears coming from her eyes. He hated to see her like this, and his protective instincts told him he needed to comfort her and he got on his knees in front of her and gently placed his hand on her cheek and wiped a few of her tears away

Hinata jumped a bit when she felt Naruto's hands which were soft and she felt him gently wipe away some of her tears. Blushing hard, she looked up to see Naruto looking at her and she got lost in his azure blue eyes

Naruto stopped wiping away the tears and smile at her "Hinata you are not a disappointment and you shouldn't let what your tou-san tell you that. If you lose a spar than you just need to get stronger so you can do better next time. Besides Tou-sans are bakas who don't know anything! Dattebayo!" he said as he got back on his feet and brought up a fist to show he was serious

Naruto for some reason heard growling in his head and felt like he would regret saying that last part

Hinata felt better seeing the enthusiasm from the blonde, got back on her feet, and started to poke her fingers together and looked to the ground as her blush got darker as she stuttered "A-a-arigatou N-n-n-naruto-kun"

Naruto grinned wide seeing Hinata back to normal, even if her normal was weird to him "your welcome Hinata-chan! Anyway if you want to get better we should start training so you can win next time so let's get started" he said as he started to walk to the center of the grass field

Hinata lifted her head, stared at Naruto's back and slowly placed her hand on her cheek, the cheek that Naruto had placed his hand to wipe away her tears '...Naruto-kun…'. She was about to faint from her thoughts on Naruto's gentle gesture but was stopped when she hearNaruto call her over

"Hey Hinata-chan! come one, let's get started!"

Hinata shook her head and started to run to catch up with her new partner 'training partner! I-I m-m-m-meant training partner!' and before she made it to Naruto she fainted

* * *

~1 hour later in the council room~

The council had been arguing again about Naruto but this time they were complaining about how Naruto beat their precious Uchiha

"He should be punished for what he has done to Uchiha-sama"

"This is a clear sign that the brat is trying to go against us"

"We should restrain him from improving"

The Hokage just sat there looking at the civilian council as they kept going. He was happy when they stopped and looked at him for an answer. He turned to see that the Shinobi council and the elders were also looking at him and in a slow motion he pulled out some ear plugs, that he received in the morning from Naruto, which caused everyone to facefault

Danzo was the only one that didn't show a clear reaction but there was a slight twitch of his only visible eye "Hokage-sama, you should pay attention to these matters. If you do things like this it could show you have no concern for village matters" he said while on the inside he felt like this might help get him out of the Hokage seat

Hiruzen just rolled his eyes, he was tired of listening to the civilians complaining about Naruto. He was glad that Naruto had started pranking the civilian council and he chose not to say anything about it because he also enjoyed watching them "if all they say is about Naruto than I am not interested" he turned to the civilians "all you people ever do is come in here with your mundane problems and complaints about Naruto and asking for him to be punished when he has done nothing wrong"

"But he has injured Uchiha-sama!"

Hiruzen just shook his head 'I hate this job'

Shikaku looked at the one that said it and spoke "from what I heard, this was during a spar between the two, which means that injuries obtained were meant to happen"

"Uchiha-sama should never be hurt!"

Tsume couldn't believe these people. 'They want to give everything to the Uchiha brat but they don't want him to get hurt. How do they think any of we shinobi get stronger?! Maybe we should let them defend the village instead of us, see how good of a job they do'

Chozo crossed his arms and shook his head 'a shame. They favor when there are other promising shinobi. The Uzumaki kid, from what Choji told me has skill….and is his ramen rival, maybe I should challenge him to see how far he can eat'

Shikaku yawn, already tired from this meeting 'troublesome'

Shibi found this illogical 'focusing on one is illogical, since one shinobi cannot make a village, it is merely one small piece

Inoichi sat there with similar thought to the others but also had her daughters behavior on his mind 'I wish this meeting would end soon, since it's the same thing and I want to talk to Norika-chan about Ino's behavior, maybe I can talk to Naruto too since I haven't seen him around the shop recently'

Hiashi was sitting there impassively not caring about either the Uchiha or the Uzumaki.

Hiruzen knew that this meeting had no real purpose and the only reason he allowed the meeting is because it might have been important 'I should make it a rule that if the meeting has to do with Naruto doing something and should be punished for something so trivial, the meeting will not be approved and will not be discussed'. Clearing his throat he chose to end it "the injuries that Sasuke Uchiha received were during training, then Naruto will not be punished for it and since this is all you civilians are going to talk about, this meeting is over"

The civilians started to complain about this but when the Hokage released his killing intent on them they quickly became silent "the civilian council and elders are dismissed, I would like the Shinobi council to wait a moment before they leave" he said while hiding his smile behind his hands

The shinobi council were confused on what the Hokage wanted to speak about but sat there as they saw the civilians and elders leave. As the group left and began to walk down the hall, they didn't notice several trip wires in their path until someone trip it and from the ceiling came a large bucket of tar and feathers hitting a few, from the walls came pies slapping them in the face and down the hall came came paintballs that once hit them found that they were filled with colorful and powerful glue that got them stuck to the floor and walls.

Danzo wasn't hit as much but found that he was glued almost completely to the wall 'damn that boy! When I get my hands on him, I will put him through hell so he knows who his master is!'

Most of the shinobi council moved their heads out of the council room to see what happened. Few of them laughed and all looked back to see that Hiashi didn't move but looked nervous and the Hokage with a smile on his face

* * *

~with Naruto after his training with Hinata~

Naruto was exhausted. His training with Hinata was helpful to the both of them, for Hinata he gave her several ideas to improve on some of her clan jutsus, ideas that she never would have thought about and for Naruto he had improved his reaction time and reflexes after he had convinced her not to hold back

Now he was on his way to Ichiraku ramen to get some energy back and get to his "food of the gods" (does he actually call it this in the manga or anime?) and to see Ayame-neechan and Teuchi-jisan since he hasn't seen them since he told her his secret

As he made it to the stand, he noticed that it was empty apart from Ayame who had her back turned working on a pot of ramen. He made his way to his usual stool seat and called out "hey Ayame-neechan!"

Ayame turned around to see Naruto and smiled "Naruto-kun! It's good to see you again, where have you been?"

Naruto chuckled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head "I've been busy with missions and training. Anyway can I get my usual chicken Ramen?"

Ayame nodded and began to make his usual order of 23 bowls of ramen

After Naruto had eaten 10 bowls he noticed that Ayame was the one doing all the cooking and hasn't seen Teuchi yet "hey Ayame-neecah where's Teuchi-jisan? I haven't seen him yet, are you working alone right now?"

Ayame nodded her head as she put another bowl on the counter in front of Naruto "yeah tou-san had to go out and get some supplies for the shop so he left me to run the stand while he is gone". As Naruto started on the bowl she put down another thought entered Ayame's mind "hey Naruto-kun?" Naruto stopped slurping to look at Ayame "can you….show me what you look like as a fox?".

Whatever remained in his mouth found a quick exit as he spat out what he had and looked at her in fear. He knew she didn't hate him because of Rama but he was still afraid of being rejected by one of the few people he cares about "Ayame-neechan…...I ….well...you…."

Ayame saw the fear in Naruto's eyes and walked around the counter and hugged him as he trembled a bit "Naruto-kun it's ok. I won't change my mind about you, no matter what you look like, you will still be Naruto-kun". Ayame was curious about what Naruto looked like in his fox form but there was another reason she asked. She wanted Naruto to know that he had people that cared about him no matter what and she felt he needed that since he had been depressed for a while.

Naruto was still trembling at the thought of showing his true form but he began to relax a bit when he felt her rubbing his whiskers and calmed down. He was thinking about how Ayame-neechan might react but what she said about not caring what he looks like gave him a ray of hope he was willing to reach for so he nodded his head and got up from the stool he was sitting at and looked up at Ayame to nod his head and gave a soft reply "ok ayame-neechan" and with that they both walked to the back of the stand where only Ayame and Teuchi are allowed since it's where they keep their supplies.

After they both made it to the back Ayame sat on her knees looking up at Naruto, who was shuffling his feet, and gave him a reassuring smile.

Naruto stood there for a few seconds, swallowing hard he decided to do it quick and in a poof of smoke he turned into his fox form which now put him at eye level with Ayame. He moved his muzzle downward, his tails drooped down and kept glancing at Ayame

Ayame looked over Naruto's body and based on the stories she heard about the kyuubi, she couldn't see what there was to fear since to her Naruto right now looked like he could barely harm anything. "Naruto-kun come here please" she said as she made a gesture to come closer

Naruto heard this and slowly walked closer until he was only a few feet away. He kept his head hung low until he felt a hand gently pet his head. He lifted his head to look in her eyes and much to his relief he didn't see any fear and now that he calmed down he realized that he didn't feel any negative emotions coming from her

"See Naruto, I'm not afraid of you"

Naruto lifted his head and tails as they started to wag back and forth as he felt happy that Ayame didn't hat or fear him. He leapt onto her so his head was on her lap and wrapped his paws around her waist giving a few happy yips 'she doesn't hate me! She's not afraid of me!'. He began to nuzzle her stomach as she began to pet him causing him to purr but he didn't care, he was happy

Teuchi had returned from getting his supplies and went to put them in the back but when he opened the door he saw his daughter petting a fox. It took him a minute till he remembered Naruto telling them about his fox form and realized that this must be Naruto, the four tails and color pattern helped him too. He just stood there and smiled at the scene of Ayame on her knees petting Naruto and Naruto sleeping on her lap as his tails wagged a bit and purring

* * *

Chapter end

Next chapter will be the start of the Wave ark and I am looking forward to it

About the Icha icha book, Naruto doesn't know what is written in the book so the pages will be blank

To those who told me about the number aspect thank you for telling me which brings me to the next point

I received a pm saying that I shouldn't be writing this and it reminded me of other reviews in other stories I enjoyed which made me want to write this small message

This is not the weirdest story out there, I've read weirder ones

This story is something I enjoy writing for fun and glad others enjoy it too

If you want this story to be better, please give tips and hints to help improve it

If you want a masterpiece you will enjoy write your own story so others may enjoy it too

To those who PM'd and reviewed with useful tips thank you very much and hope I'm getting better


	17. Run in with the mist

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

(author comment) - not a lot of them

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

=radio communications=

**Edit note:** fixed a mistake brought to my attention

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

Chapter 17: Run in with the mist

The streets of Konoha were filled with the normal events. People shopping for groceries, store owners giving their greetings, kids playing and their parents watching their kids to make sure that the kids aren't hurt

This was disturbed by a brown blur being chased by a pink blur and a black/ blue blur. The blurs lost their target and split up to find it

=Cotton candy here, I have lost the target! Um….Ducky….do you have eyes on the target?=

=Hm!=

=Come on Ducky, heheheh, you know you have to respond to communications=

=I don't have eyes on the target "cotton candy" "lazy pervert". Why the hell did he get to choose the names for this!?=

=it's because he won the card game= lazy pervert spoke through the radio

=but he wins EVERY TIME! Next time I get to choose the names!= Ducky responded

=speaking of which, where is "Hunter"= Cotton candy asked

=not sure. Hunter do you copy?….Hunter?=

=...This is Hunter, I'm in pursuit of the target! Leading him to a trap=

=Hunter where are you? Target is dangerous and we need to engage as a team!= Lazy pervert commands

=...Hunter!=

=...got him! Dattebayo!=

= *sigh* give us your location so we can verify target=

* * *

~30 minutes later at the Hokage Office~

"OH TORA, you had me worried sick! Momma is so glad that you have returned!" spoke Madam Shijimi a corpulent woman with dark brown hair that she kept in three separate hair poofs. She was wearing pink lipstick, pink nail-polish and purple eye shadow as well as random colored rings on each finger.

Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto stood behind the scene of the woman who was squeezing the life out of a brown cat with a red ribbon on it's right ear. Each of them with some scratch marks on their skin and their cloths had rips all over. Each of them had their own thoughts about the scene in front of them

Sasuke who had a bandage on his right cheek and one eye closed due to a three clawed scratch over his left eye, scowled at the cat hoping it would catch fire 'that thing needs to burn!'

Sakura was holding her left arm and winced everytime she rubbed one of the many scratches she had on her arms 'If I ever get a pet, I'm getting a quiet bird'

Kakashi had his only visible eye covered with a bandage so he couldn't see anything around him which pissed him off since he couldn't read 'sounds like the cat is being suffocated…..good'

Naruto didn't have any visible injuries due to his healing ability but he was missing his sash and his clothes were ripped so much that he knew that he wouldn't be able to repair it 'I hate that cat so much I wouldn't even eat it!... I should go hunting again later.'

Madam Shijimi had given her thanks to the genin team and the Hokage as she left with the wiggling cat that looked like it was reaching out for help

Once she was gone the Hokage looked at the team and had to stifle a chuckle since this is a recurring mission and every genin hates it "well done team seven for completing the demon cat Tora mission, and in record time if I might add. Seeing that none of them were happy about what he said he continued "well you can go on to do another mission" he said as he pulled out several mission scrolls "well now lets see, there is gardening for Katami-san or painting a set of rooms for Toujou-san…."

Sasuke was furious at hearing that all the missions that were given to him were nothing but chores "NO! No more of these chores! I should be getting real missions not these useless tasks!"

Iruka who had been standing on the side and going through several mission scrolls stopped and looked angry at the Uchiha "Sasuke-kun you should respect the Hokage! He is the ones that offers the missions and it is not up to you on what mission you get. It is up to your sensei on what mission you get"

Sasuke looked over to Kakashi but the sensei didn't move and just stood there. It took Sasuke a second till he realized that his sensei at the moment couldn't see "Kakashi-sensei, we should be getting better missions! Not these chores!"

Kakashi turned his head to Sasuke and sighed at this "well I think they will do fine if they receive a C-rank mission"

Iruka was stunned by this "what? What makes you think they are ready for this?"

The Hokage was also curious about this, since he wasn't expecting one of the recent graduating teams to receive a C-rank mission at this time. He was expecting it to take a few more weeks until one of them got one

Kakashi took a breath and began "they have completed the required number of D-rank missions in order to take a C-rank and they would have gotten one a little sooner if it weren't for a few ….misplacement we had" he said as he put his hand on his back hip pouch where he kept his precious book, this time it was Icha Icha Violence.

Naruto was biting his lower lip and holding his breath trying not to laugh when he remembered the pranks he did against his sensei

The Hokage leaned back in his chair and thought about what Kakashi said. It was true that they finished the needed missions and it was a C-rank mission, so all they would deal with are bandits. It was something they could handle so he made his choice. Looking at Iruka he spoke "Iruka-san, we will be allowing them to take a C-rank mission, we will give them the missions we received two days ago"

Iruka was hesitant but he nodded his head "very well Hokage-sama. Would you like me to go retrieve the client?"

"Yes Iruka-san, please tell the client that his request has been accepted"

Iruka nodded his head and walked out of the room to go get the client.

Most of Team seven were excited about getting a new mission but Naruto wasn't as excited. He was happy that his team were getting a better mission but he didn't really have anything against the D-rank missions for the most part 'I was kinda hoping for that gardening mission even if the woman hates me'

* * *

~20 minutes later~

Team seven were doing little things to pass the time, as they waited for the client. Sasuke was brooding in the corner, Sakura was sitting against the wall close by, Naruto was laying on the floor tossing a small red ball in the air and catching it, and Kakashi who removed his bandage was reading his book

The Hokage was smoking his pipe with a scentless tobacco since last time he used his normal tobacco, Naruto had pranked him for three days. He really wanted his normal set but he could handle it for now

Naruto kept tossing the ball until an odor hit his nose causing him to move both his hands to his nose and letting the ball hit the floor "argh! Damn it!". He started to roll around the floor talking about a strong smell that was burning his nose. Kakashi and Sakura went to check on their teammate but his rolling was making it hard to really tell if he was ok. After 4 minutes thankfully, he was able to get back on his feet and removed his hands but he had tears coming out of his eyes like he had just fell into a pile of onions. "The smell is getting stronger ugh!"

After a minute a knock on the door was heard and with a short "enter" the door was opened to show Iruka with a grey-haired, bespectacled man with a large beard and dark eyes. He wore a sleeveless v-neck shirt with an obi, pants and a pair of sandals and a towel around his neck. In his hand was a sake bottle and his face had a blush on it, obviously from being drunk.

The man looked at the group and his face grew angry and looked to the Hokage "this is the team that you got for me! You said I would be getting Shinobi, not a group for me to babysit" the man looked over the team and gave his opinion on each "the dark haired one looks like he would abandon me if he wanted, the pink one looks like she belongs in a store as a clerk (apologies if I offend) and …." he paused as he looked to Naruto who still had some tears flowing down his face "what's with the short blonde crybaby, someone take his bottle?"

Even if Naruto's nose was still burning, what the man said pissed him off and lunged at the man but was stopped by Kakashi grabbing the back of his jacket and lifting him in the air "maa Naruto-kun, please don't kill the client before we even take the mission, and please sir, my team is prepared to protect you from anything that might come after you"

The man looked at the one eyed shinobi "you better protect me with your life and then some. My name is Tazuna, the great bridge builder and I am expecting you to get me home safely" he said in a grand standing manner

Kakashi was about to answer when he heard a noise *RRRRIIIIIIPPPP* but he didn't know where it came from until he realized that Naruto seemed to lose a lot of weight. Turning his head to the hand that held Naruto he saw that the jacket that he grabbed ripped entirely and all that was in his hand was a piece of orange cloth. Looking down he saw that Naruto was on his hands and knees and was slowly turning his head towards Kakashi. The look in Naruto's eyes were promising the one eyes sensei suffering and no way to escape it. Wanting to get out of the situation he quickly spoke "well everyone we will meet at the north gate tomorrow at 8. Make sure to pack for a long mission. Ja ne!" and with that he poofed away

Naruto got up from the ground and removed the remainder of the jacket which were just the sleeves and some of the inner pockets, leaving his torso with just the anbu style shirt (think a tight black sleeveless turtleneck shirt) "week of pranks. Seven days of humiliation, I might take his wallet too so I can get a replacement" 'I can't go to Tenten's shop though, I know she is furious at me from the Hyuga thing'

The Hokage cleared his throat to get the remaining people's attention "well everyone, I believe we all know when you must be at the gate so you are all dismissed, except for Naruto and Iruka, I wish to speak with you two. After everyone had left, leaving Naruto and Iruka with him. "Ok Naruto-kun, this mission will be out of the village and I want to know if you are going to be ok out there?"

Naruto stood in front of Iruka and the Hokage and thought about what was asked of him "I think I should be ok Hokage-jiji. I can handle anything out there dattebayo!"

Iruka was worried about the boy but the enthusiasm that he was watching the boy give calmed down a bit "Naruto-kun are you sure you will be ok?"

Naruto nodded with a big grin on his face until he thought of something "oh Hokage-jiji! Do you have any more of those privacy tags? Just in case, you know"

The Hokage and Iruka immediately knew what they were for "NO!" were screamed by both causing Naruto to cover his ears. They waited until Naruto lowered his hands before they continued "You are not to do that again! You know what you went through the first time, why would you do it again?!"

Naruto dipped his head down a bit and spoke "I don't want to, I just want it just in case I have to and there is no other way". He lifted his head to look the Hokage in the eyes.

Hiruzen stared back at the boy but sighed in defeat as he pulled out 2 tags and held them out Naruto to take. As Naruto grabbed them he held them firm with a warning "Naruto-kun, please don't use these unless absolutely necessary. Is that understood?"

Naruto nodded his head with a serious look "hai Hokage-jiji". Naruto took them when the Hokage let them go and started making his way out but stopped when he heard Iruka speak

"Be careful out there Naruto"

Naruto looked back and smiled before giving a nod

* * *

~that night Naruto's mindscape~

Naruto sat in front of Kurama looking into his Tou-chan's eyes trying to win him over

"**No"**

"But Tou-chan!"

"**No, I will not allow you to go through that again"**

"Rama-tou-chan it's only in case we need to but I want you to help me if I have to…..please"

Kurama sat there looking at his kit and knew that at the moment, he wouldn't be able to get through his kits thick skull '**sometimes I hate how stubborn he can be'**

"**Fine kit but I will only allow it when necessary" **

Naruto grumbled at this knowing that it was the best he was going to get so he agreed to it. After they came to this agreement Naruto hopped up to Rama's head and laid down before he started to talk about how his day went and Rama giving his teasing comments about him losing to a cat, and enjoying his time with his kit

* * *

~next morning 10:30~

Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna were at the north gate waiting for their sensei but they weren't waiting long, since they had arrived ten minutes ago and that confused Tazuna.

"So why did we arrive hours after that silver haired guy told us to?" Tazuna asked wondering about why he was told by the blonde that there was a change in the time they need to arrive at the gate

Naruto looked over at his team before he looked back at Tazuna "our sensei has a habit of being up to three hours late and we don't want to stand here waiting for him so I sent a clone to tell you the time change"

Tazuna was a little confused about the "clone" bit but accepted it and started digging through his backpack, pulling out a sake bottle much to Naruto's displeasure

Naruto hated the smell of Alcohol, ever since he walked passed a bar with a bunch of drinkers in it, back when he was a kid "hey can you please not drink that…..or even open it"

Tazuna ignored what Naruto said and just opened the bottle and chugged it down, making Naruto hold his nose closed

After 26 minutes of waiting and Kakashi finally showed up with his usual "yo"

Before Sakura could say anything Naruto beat her to the punch "your late Kakashi-sensei, which is it this time? An old man, black cat or lost your favorite book again?"

Kakashi immediately placed his hand in his pouch and pulled it out and opened it to see if it was still his precious "phew still there…..anyway it was the black cat".

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura all sighed and shake their head, since they were so tired of these excuses. Sasuke wanted to get the mission started so he started walking out of the gate being followed by Naruto and Sakura.

Kakashi and Tazuna stood there for a second before the both shrugged and walk off as well to catch up

* * *

~that night~

After traveling the whole day without any problems the team had set up camp with Naruto and Kakashi setting up the tent, Sasuke getting a fire set and Sakura getting the pot ready for them to use for cooking. During the traveling the team was bored, well mostly Sasuke and Sakura. Kakashi spent the time reading his precious Icha icha violence and Naruto midway started to read the book Anko gave him since he only didn't have anything else to do and Kurama told him to take it last night.

Kakashi had set up the tent meant for the team but was confused when he saw Naruto putting up his own tent "Naruto-kun? You do know that we have a team tent for us to use right? Why are you setting up another one?"

Naruto finished setting it up and turned to Kakashi "it's for me. I kinda like my own single tent since I used it alot in the forest of konoha". For obvious reasons Naruto didn't want his team to see his fox form as he slept. After Naruto had placed his pack in his tent he went to the fire and sat in front of it and started reading Anko's gift.

Sakura had finished getting the cooking set ready when a question popped into her head"Hey Kakashi-sensei, how long will it take for us to get to Wave country"

Kakashi looked up in thought, thinking on the question "well at the pace we are going…..hmm a day more or less"

Tazuna picked up from there after taking a swig of Alcohol "there is a boat we have to take to get to my home. I have a friend who will give us a ride"

Sakura nodded her head, thankful that the trip wouldn't take so long "well we should get something to eat since none of us have eaten all day"

The team were able to eat some soup that Sakura made with the help of Naruto who had some spices he uses when he is in the forest on his own. After everyone had eaten they decided who would be on the first lookout and the order they would go with. Naruto decided to be the first watch to avoid someone walking in on him as he slept, next would be Sakura, then Sasuke and last Kakashi, each with a two hour shift

* * *

~ 3 PM next day~

The group had been making good time getting to wave as they were now close to where they had to meet Tazuna's friend

Team seven were walking down the path with Sakura asking Tazuna if Wave had any shinobi in it and Kakashi giving her an explanation about how some villages don't have Shinobi of their own. Sasuke just kept his eyes on the road thinking on murdering his brother (not much else on his mind), Kakashi still reading his book (wonder how many times he has read it) and Naruto was holding his nose trying not to gag from the alcohol smell coming from Tazuna who kept drinking

As they kept walking, Naruto suddenly felt some ill intent coming from down the road and looked towards it. On the ground, a small puddle was seen in their way and it confused Naruto since he it hadn't rained in a while. Wanting to get confirmation he removed his hands from his nose to sniff the air to see if he could smell any moisture but he regretted the action and immediately put his hands back since all he could smell was the sake come from Tazuna

As they walked passed the puddle Kakashi took notice of it and decided to see where this event would lead to so he acted oblivious to the two rising shinobi coming from the very puddle they passed.

Out of the puddle came 2 shinobi each wearing Kiri hitai-ate

The first one was Gozu. Gozu had shoulder-length, wild dark-brown hair and dark eyes. He wore a rebreather that covers the lower half of his face and a large, clawed gauntlet on his right arm which had a chain coming out of it that had the other end attached to his partners own gauntlet. He wore a camouflage suit with bandages around his waist, dark-coloured, knee-length sandals and a ragged black cape. His Kiri hitai-ate had a single horn on it.

His partner was Meizu. Meizu wore the same outfit apart from the cape he wore which was gray in color and his chained gauntlet was on his left arm instead of the right and with a chain connecting to his partners gauntlet

Both rushed to the group without any of them noticing and when they were close enough they wrapped Kakashi in the spiked chains.

Everyone turned to see that Kakashi was in trouble but before any of them could act the two kiri Shinobi pulled on their chains and sliced Kakashi to pieces

Everyone was shocked to see Kakashi cut to ribbons so quickly and with no chance to counter.

Meizu chuckled at the shocked look from everyone, he looks to the fallen Sensei "one down" as his partner Gozu looks to the group "one to go" and they charged towards the group

Team seven was still in shock and Tazuna fell on his ass and slowly crawled backwards, seeing the two Kiri Shinobi heading their way.

Sakura was the first to react as she screamed "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

The scream knocked Naruto back into reality and looks to see the coming Shinobi and on instinct he tossed some shuriken at Meizu which cause him to slow down a bit to dodge them,which Naruto used to get close to him.

Meizu was shocked to see the blonde to move fast enough to reach him but seeing the blonde swinging his fist at him. Meizu brought up his gauntlet up to block the fist

Gozu saw that Meizu started to fight and went to help him since he figured that the faster they got rid of the kids the faster they could get to their intended target but if they got a chance they would kill the bridge builder. Rushing to Meizu he shifted his right arm to move the chain to create a loop the hovers over the blonde so he could pull it down on the kid to finish him off

Naruto saw that the chain had looped above his head and was dropping to wrap around him, moving back to try and avoid the chain he was hit by the claw of the gauntlet leaving 2 slashes going diagonally across his face and the chain dropped even faster around Naruto and in a quick motion tied him up and the blades started to hurt him as he tried to focus on not releasing the **henge **"urgh!"

Meizu and Gozu smirked under their masks and looked towards the group before Gozu speaks "give us the old man and we will give you your friend back". They saw that the pink haired girl was shaking doing her best to stay on her feet but they couldn't see the boy with black hair 'where did the other one go?'

He was answered when a fireball made its way towards all three of them. Both were about to un-loop the chain from the blonde to get away but found that said blonde grabbed the chain, keeping it from loosening and both looked back at the fireball as it hit them directly and cause an explosion.

Sasuke dropped from the trees and walked up to the still smoldering crater and smirked, knowing he took out two rogue shinobi on his own (-_-)

Sakura was shocked to see the fireball hit not only the two Kiri shinobi but Naruto as well "NARUTO!"

"Stop yelling! Kami and I thought you stopped doing that" was heard behind her and she turned to see Naruto standing there with his hands over his ears

Sakura and Tazuna were shocked to see the blonde standing in between them and not burnt to a crisp. Tazuna couldn't figure out how it happened "how the hell are you alive kid?!"

Naruto removed his hands from his ears and looked back at Tazuna "at the very last second I used the **Kawarimi **to switch places with something and thankfully it worked"

Sakura looked back at the crater then back at Naruto "what did you switch with?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders "don't know. I just switch with the thing that was on the ground". Naruto looked down to see that he was stepping in a small puddle, taking a sniff he covered his nose and his eyes started to water "I think I switched with Tazuna-sans sake bottle"

Sasuke made his way back to the group with the smirk still on his face just in time to hear Tazuna cry in despair "what the hell's wrong with him?" he asked just to see his teammates shake their head

Kakashi chose now to pop out from the bushes with an eye smile "looks like my cute genin team have made it through their first shinobi battle" he wiped away an imaginary tear "I'm so proud"

Everyone looked at Kakashi in shock not believing that he was alive. Sakura voiced their question "Kakashi-sensei!... how are you…...". Kakashi just pointed to where his body should have been and all they saw where chunks of wood and they made the connection of him using the **Kawarimi **to replace himself with a log. Kakashi went to the crater to see that the two Kiri shinobi both had burns on most of their body but were alive so he took out some ninja wire, pulled them out, removed their weapons and tied them to a tree. "Well done team, you took out the Demon brothers of the mist" Kakashi then turned his attention to Tazuna "now then…..tell me why you had shinobi after you when all we were expected to handle were bandits" he said in his normal tone but the threat was subtly there which cause Tazuna to gulp nervously

* * *

~20 minutes later~

Tazuna spent this time telling the team about Gato and his hold on Wave, draining all the resources they had and oppressing the people. He explained how the bridge they were building would be able to bring in new resource and trade routes that would bring Wave back on its feet, which would loosen the grip Gato has over them

Naruto was listening to all this and felt like he needed to help these people. He knew what it was like to be oppressed, he knew what it was like to have no hope of a better tomorrow and he hated to think that it was happening to others. He had made his decision before Tazuna even finished his story

Kakashi listened impassively, since he had seen places like this before. He shook his head knowing that this mission was no longer a c-rank mission. "By all rights we should abandon this mission since this is at least a B-rank and you have not paid for one"

Tazuna wanted to beg for their help since they were close to his home anyway but he was stopped when Naruto spoke up "Kakashi-sensei, we should continue the mission". Kakashi looked to Naruto wondering why he would want to continue a mission that might be beyond their abilities

"Dobe why should we go along with this? It's their problem not ours."

Sakura looked to Sasuke, after hearing the problems Wave were dealing with, she wanted to see if there was something they could do to help even if she felt like she couldn't help out much. Hearing Sasuke act like it was something minor and they shouldn't do anything confused her. He acted like it was below him and the way he attacked the Demon brothers with Naruto in the way concerned her. Looking down and thinking about what to do she glanced at Naruto, who had a determined look on his face regardless of him sweating and seeing that Naruto was ready to help she decided that she should also help even if Sasuke didn't want to "Sasuke-kun I also think that we help them."

Kakashi, looking at Sakura, raised an eyebrow in mild shock 'interesting I would have thought that she would agree with Sasuke-kun, not Naruto-kun. Wonder why she wants to keep going'

Sasuke scowled at Sakura making her flinch and she felt small under his glare "why should I listen to YOU. This guy thought he could fool us and he expects us to just say 'ok we will go'. NO, he should learn not to lie to his betters!"

Naruto wanted to punch Sasuke with everything he had, council be damned but he needed the Uchiha to continue the mission so he decided to play on his ego "hey teme! If we keep going, we might run into more rogue shinobi …..". Naruto could just feel his ego rising and knew that all that the only one left to convince was Kakashi

Kakashi could see that everyone on his team have chosen to keep the mission going and he was somewhat glad they all agreed to help out even if one of them is doing it for more selfish reasons so with a sigh of defeat he made his choice "alright, I suppose since everyone is so set on going we keep going, but I want you all to be on high alert, we don't know if those two were the last ones we will see" he then turned to Tazuna who started to have a hopeful look in his eyes "you should be happy we are still going with the mission"

Tazuna bowed down thanking them for helping him even though he lied about the mission. As Kakashi prepared to send a messenger dog for a pickup on the rogue shinobi, Naruto decided to sit down as his breathing was becoming heavier and his head and eye were in pain but he didn't know why. It was becoming harder to keep his **henge **up with how his head was burning, granted it wasn't the worst pain he has felt but it still hurt.

Sakura noticed Naruto's condition and walked up to him to see what was wrong "Naruto are you ok?". Naruto didn't respond and kept his eyes closed and his breathing got harder. She got worried and knelt down, moved his Hitai-ate and placed her hand on his forehead but pulled it back when it was literally burning "Kakashi something is wrong with Naruto!".

Kakashi hearing this looked over to Naruto and saw his condition making him rush to his student and looking him over

Naruto was in a state of half-consciousness and the conscious part was instinctively keeping up the **henge **while the rest of him had entered the mindscape

* * *

~Naruto's mindscape~

Naruto laid on the grassy field where he usually enters as Kurama stood over him and with his head tilted up and a look of concentration. Naruto opened his eyes and looked up while his eyelids drooped halfway and tiredly asked "Rama-tou-chan?...what are you doing?"

Kurama not looking at his kit responded "**you've been poisoned kit. I am trying to expunge it but the wound is sealed and I can only keep it in one spot on the side of your face" **looking down to his kit he continued "**you need to wake up kit and give me an opening to let the poison out, try and cut in the same spot, it would let it out faster and I don't want to flow the poison through much of your body just to get it out"**

Even though Naruto felt weak he heard everything and the idea of him being poisoned gave him a bit more energy and as quick as he could, left the mindscape

* * *

~real world~

Sakura and Kakashi were trying to figure out what had happened to Naruto while Sasuke stayed back with Tazuna. Naruto's eyes shot open, shocking both Sakura and Kakashi. He slowly grabbed a kunai from his pouch and brought it to his face and before Kakashi or Sakura could stop him he quickly swiped his cheek, and letting it bleed

Kakashi was shocked at the action and Sakura was stunned silent. Quickly Kakashi pulled out a bandage from one of his jacket pockets and was about to place it over the wound but Naruto grabbed his wrist and shook his head "Naruto, why did you do that to yourself? We need to seal the wound quickly"

Naruto just shook his head again and said "poison". Nodding in understand Kakashi stopped what he was doing, much to Sakura's confusion which Kakashi decided to clear up "it seems that the gauntlet that cut him was coated in poison. He is letting the poison bleed out of his system, pretty clever if you ask me"

Sakura was still concerned about her teammate "is there any way we can help him?"

Kakashi shook his head as he saw that Naruto was looking a lot better "no, I'm not a medical shinobi so all I have are basic field training. All we can do is let Naruto be as his body gets rid of the poison"

Sakura didn't like the idea of not being useful at all. During the fight she didn't do anything and now that the fight was over she realised that she couldn't help in support either. She felt worthless

After a few minutes Naruto was back on his feet and ready to get moving and even when Kakashi and Sakura said they should rest a bit more, Naruto waved it off and started marching down the road

* * *

~2 hours later~

After the fight it didn't take long until they made it to the waterbank where they would meet Tazuna's friend that would take them across the water into Wave country. The boat ride was a short peaceful trip, the only thing that happened was Nauto fishing with a kunai and ninja wire much to the shock of Sakura and annoyance of Sasuke. Once they made it to the other side, Naruto gave most of the fish to Tazuna's friend and he kept one so he could eat later

Now the group was walking down a path surrounded by trees and bushes but their vision was blocked by mist that put Naruto on edge because not only did the mist block his sight a bit, the mist felt odd. After a bit more walking Naruto felt ill intent somewhere ahead of him and on instinct he threw a kunai where he felt it. He ran to where his kunai landed behind a bush, moving the bush aside he found a bunny that looked like it was traumatized for life

Sakura was startled from Naruto throwing the Kunai and Sasuke looked ready for a fight but when they saw him pull out a white bunny by the ears, they both deflated.

Sakura didn't need any more years removed from her life from fright "Naruto-baka Don't do that!". Sakura may have stopped calling him that but she still called him that every now and then out of reflex

Sasuke was mad at the blonde getting him worked up for nothing "hm, dobe"

Kakashi was analyzing the bunny, feeling that something was off 'that bunny…..is white. It shouldn't be that color, not at this time of year…..'

Naruto for his part thought of eating the bunny in a stew since he has had them before when hunting but his thoughts changed when he felt ill intent aimed at his group

"GET DOWN" yelled Kakashi making Sasuke drop down as Naruto pushed both Sakura and Tazuna to the ground as a massive sword spun in the air over their heads.

The sword kept flying in the air until it arched up and stuck itself high in a tree.

As the group were getting up from the ground they heard someone speak in a gravelly voice "well well, never thought this job would give me a fight like this". The voice forced everyone to look up to where the blade had stuck and saw a man standing on the hilt of the blade

Kakashi recognized the man from the bingo book "Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the mist and one of the Seven swordsmen of the mist"

Zabuza was a tall and noticeably muscular man with light grayish skin, short spiky black hair, dark brown eyes, and small eyebrows. He was wearing bandages like a mask over the bottom half of his face. He wore his Hitai-ate sideways on his head, he was shirtless, with his chest only covered by a belt to which he attached his Kubikiribōchō, wearing baggy pants with the striped pattern and mimetic wrist-warmers extending up to his elbows, with matching leg-warmers.

Zabuza chuckled "good to see that my reputation is still as good as ever, but you have a reputation just as good if not better, Copycat Kakashi or would you prefer Kakashi of the Sharingan"

When the genin heard this only two of them responded.

Sasuke looking over to Kakashi in shocked anger 'why is he called that!? He isn't an Uchiha so why is he called Kakashi of the Sharingan!?'

Naruto looked apprehensive when he heard the word "Sharingan". He didn't know why but he felt he should be wary of whatever it is

Kakashi knew he wouldn't be able to hold back on an enemy like this so he put his hand on the part of his Hitai-ate that covered his eye and lifted it to reveal his Sharingan eye

Sasuke scowled at his sensei 'how did he get that!?'

Naruto shook a bit in fear of the eye, he knew he had never seen it before but it felt oddly familiar. In his head he heard growling "**kit be careful about that eye. I've felt it before"**. Naruto was startled when he heard Kurama in his head since he has never spoke to him this way

Naruto didn't get to think about it since Kakashi gave his command "Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, protect Tazuna, Diamond formation. I will handle Zabuza"

Complying with the order all three of them got in formation with Naruto being in front of Tazuna, Sasuke being on the right and Sakura on the left

Zabuza chuckled darkly and dropping from his sword, he grabbed the handle and ripped it out of the tree "look at that. Kids pretending to be Ninja. Tell me kiddies, have you seen blood before?". After he said this he released his KI against them.

Each of them had different reactions to the KI. Sasuke's breathing became heavy and began to sweat, Sakura's legs started to wobble and was on the verge of collapsing, and Naruto stood still with wide eyes and arms dropped to his side

Sasuke was bringing a Kunai to his throat from the feeling he got from the KI 'make it stop! Make it STOP! I CAN'T HANDLE THIS FEELING! MAKE IT STOP!' he thought as images of his death popped in his head

Sakura had tears falling down her face 'I'm going to die. I shouldn't have become a kunoichi if this was what it was like…..why did I become one?'

Naruto had no thoughts going through his head just the feeling of the KI overwhelming him, as the color of his eyes slowly faded

They all snapped out of their states when Kakashi spoke "everyone!" they all shook their heads and looked towards Kakashi "don't worry I promise to protect you all with my life, trust me"

Zabuza laughed at the declaration "oh you think that any of you will live to see the next day, sorry to say but you….."

He didn't get to finish his sentence as he felt a kunai pierce his back "you know...you talk to much" was heard behind Zabuza as the Kakashi in front of him disappeared in a poof of smoke

Zabuza's eyes widen a bit 'a clone huh…..not bad' he thought as he collapsed into a puddle of water

Kakashi was stunned seeing that Zabuza turned into water '**Mizu bunshin!**' he thought before he jumped to his left to avoid a vertical slash from Zabuza who continued his assault forcing Kakashi further away from his team. Sidestepping a diagonal slash Kakashi grabbed the wrist and with his free hand pulled back, threw a punch to Zabuza's face but the fist was grabbed by Zabuza's free hand and they both stared into the others eyes

Zabuza smirked as they both fought to overpower the other "for a skilled shinobi like you, you sure made a rookie mistake"

Kakashi was confused about what he said until he realized that he was too far away from his team and the client 'NO!'. Kakashi tried to think of a way to get out of the standoff but if he let go and turned away he would be cut in the back and the position he was in wouldn't allow him to kick Zabuza hard enough away

Zabuza had no problem with how he was. he shifted his feet and pulled back the hand holding Kakashi's fist

Kakashi lost his balance and felt the hand holding Zabuza's wrist being pulled off and was suddenly thrown over Zabuza's shoulder

after Zabuza tossed Kakashi, he began to go through a long set of handsigns as fast as he could and unleashed his jutsu "**Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu"**

Kakashi flipped in the air and landed in a sliding crouch. He lifted his head in time to see a water dragon charging at him. He was off balance and wouldn't be able to avoid the jutsu "shit"

* * *

~back with team 7 and Tazuna~

The team had their guard up but kept their eyes on the fight in the distance but the mist made it hard to clearly see. As they watch they suddenly heard someone speak "Hidden mist jutsu" and then the mist grew much thicker cutting off their vision entirely of the fight. Each pulling out a kunai, they got ready for anything as they kept shifting their eyes left and right

Naruto couldn't smell anything since the air smelled of moisture and he could still smell the sake from Tazuna. After a few seconds the hair on the back of his neck rose and he felt massive ill intent behind him. Quickly turning he saw, behind Tazuna, Zabuza lifting his arm to swing at all of them and on reflex tossed his kunai at the man, which hit the man since he was unable to block at such a close range. Sasuke and Sakura looked behind them just in time to see Zabuza turning into a puddle of water

"Dobe! What happened?"

"Don't know teme!"

They all heard the fight from Kakashi and Zabuza and each of them were hoping that Kakashi would be able to beat him, but their hopes were crushed when the heard "**Water prison Jutsu**"

The mist started to let up and they could see Kakashi was trapped in a bubble of water, with his head being the only thing that was free

Sakura was panicking at the sight "Kakashi-sensei!". She wanted to help out but couldn't think of anything

Zabuza knew he had won and in his good mood, thought to spare the green genin, since his job was only the bridge builder "well, looks like we each have something the other wants, so how bout it kids, give me the old man, I give you your sensei and we all leave happy, how about it?"

Naruto gritted his teeth, trying to think of anything they could do. Looking back at Tazuna he couldn't think of anything, he could see the fear in the man looking back at him and looked like he was afraid Naruto would give him up. Naruto felt like there was nothing they could do until a smell hit his nose and he came up with something. Looking to Sasuke, who looked like he hated the idea of losing, he gave his idea in a hushed tone "hey Teme, I have an Idea and I need your help" he said lowered himself and began unstrapping his sandals

Sasuke's scowl grew as he looked at Naruto "why should I listen to you Dobe? What kind of plan could you come up with anyway?"

Naruto just finished undoing his sandals and got ready "do you have a plan? if you do, I would like to hear it?!" Naruto said in a harsh whisper

Sasuke growled cause he didn't have anything so he reluctantly listened to the plan

Zabuza couldn't hear any of the whisper they were doing but felt amused at how they were coming up with a plan in the middle of the battle. While Kakashi began to yell at them, telling them to run which was ignored by them. Looking back at the genin he saw them start to make their move.

Naruto crossed his fingers to start his plan "**Kage bunshin no Jutsu".** Five clones popped up and two of them started running in opposite directions in a wide ark towards Zabuza while another two ran towards him

'Shadow clones eh? Kids got some skill if he has that under his belt' Zabuza made two **Mizu bunshin** to defend him and take out the clones. Much to his shock one of the ones heading directly toward him stopped halfway while the other fell on all fours and started moving much faster but it was still slow enough for his clone to block the claw strike aimed at him. Looking at both sides he saw that the one on his left stopped moving while the one on the right had jumped in the air looking like he was aiming a fist at him. The second water clone jumped to intercept. Zabuza kept his eyes on the two that remained a distance while his clones dealt with each other.

Suddenly the two clones that stood a distance away started running towards each other. Zabuza didn't understand what they were doing but when he heard one of the clones that remained by the pink haired girl and old man yell "NOW!" he kept his head turned to them. He kept staring at them until he felt himself shift a bit. As he watched he noticed that they were no longer there 'What?! Where did they go?!' he thought as he also noticed that the forest that was behind the two was now closer.

"**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu"**

Turning his head to look forward , he noticed that the waterball prison that he had Kakashi in was replaced with a massive fireball heading in his direction "WHAT THE HELL?!" and before he could jump out of the way, he was struck by it

Sasuke fell to the ground on his knees from where the fireball came from, trying to catch his breath. He lifted his head to look over where the clones were and saw that Zabuza's clones had collapsed leaving puddles, after which he turned to Sakura's side of the field and saw that Kakashi was standing where one of Naruto's clones were.

Naruto fell on his back smiling that his plan worked "phew it worked! Hah! How's that, we got both Kakashi-sensei back and hit Zabuza! I'm awesome Dattebayo!"

The plan Naruto came up with was to have two clones attack Zabuza to distract him while the other two stopped at a distance and then head to each other, with one using the **Kawarimi **to switch with Sasuke and the other switching with Zabuza. The switch with Sasuke would be when he is on the final hand sign for his jutsu

Kakashi was surprised to see such a maneuver, it was unorthodox and had some flaws but it was smart and tactical 'never would have thought about switching places with bunshin. How did he come up with that

As Naruto and Sasuke got back on their feet and Naruto's clones dispelled, they made their way back to where Kakashi, Sakura and Tazuna, but they stopped when they heard laughing coming from where the fireball hit

Zabuza was still standing, with his sword in front of him which he obviously used as a shield against the fireball. He lowered his sword to look at Kakashi and his team and in a strained voice spoke "not bad kid" he started to slowly limp out of the circle of fire "you actually got me with that. I underestimated you, but now it's time I got …" whatever he was about to say was stopped when two senbon needles hit him in the neck

Everyone was shocked to see a hunter nin drop down in directly in front of them "thank you for your assistance in taking him down. I have been after him for weeks now but was unable to defeat him"

Kakashi eyed the hunter nin a bit but was glad that the fight was over "a Kiri Hunter Nin huh. well it was no problem. Based on how tough he was to beat, it makes sense you would wait until he was vulnerable"

Naruto looked confused on what was going on so he turned to Sakura "hey Sakura what's a hunter nin?"

Sakura, although still shaken by the fight looked towards Naruto and answered "well from what we learned, they are Shinobi that are specifically hired to hunt down rogue shinobi and bring them back to claim the reward set on them"

"Oh"

"Hm Dobe"

As the hunter nin walked towards Zabuza, Kakashi looked towards his genin "that was a risky move you did there Naruto".

Naruto shrunk his head into his jacket feeling like he did something wrong and he didn't like that eye that Kakashi had. For some reason it felt familiar and not in a good way. Naruto didn't even know about the eye before this, so why does he feel this way? He felt a little better when he lowered his Hitai-ate to cover it up again

Kakashi then eye smiled "but it was also really clever and got me out of that sticky situation, how did you come up with it"

Naruto smiled at the praise and looked up at his sensei before his smile became a big grin "I got the idea when I smelled Tazuna's sake still on him. It reminded me of when I switched with his bottle during the fight with the demon brothers"

The hunter nin picked up Zabuza's body and turning to the group he lifted his hand in a wave "thank you again" and then shunshined away

Kakashi gave a heavy sigh and slumped his shoulders as he looked at Tazuna "how far away is your house?"

Tazuna looked at the tired looking Shinobi and said "not that far"

Kakashi nodded his head as he looked at his genin team "good. I'm leaving it to you guys to get us there because I'm about to….." and with that Kakashi fainted

Sakura rushed to Kakashi to see if he was ok only to see that he had fainted "he's ok but now what?"

Naruto slumped his shoulders knowing that they would have to drag their sensei to Tazuna's house so with a groan he made three clones "I should take his book again for making me carry him and for my jacket" and with that the team, Tazuna and an unconscious Kakashi made their way to Tazuna's house

* * *

Chapter end

Finally finished this chapter

I will admit this chapter felt long to me but I got it done

I feel like I made the fights short but when you think about it, if you use a good tactic fights end quickly, although I'm not sure about the fight with Zabuza

Well the Wave ark has started and they have had their first run in with Zabuza

The mist they were walking in wasn't the hidden mist jutsu, just a lesser level to just make the area misty

Please read and review


	18. A chance meeting

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

(author comment) - not a lot of them

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

The people, experiences, and choices you make in your life, define who you are, even if you regret some of them they helped make you

* * *

Chapter 18: a chance meeting

The group finally made it to Tazuna's house after forty minutes of walking. Naruto was now dragging Kakashi with his top half on the ground, since the clones decided they didn't want to keep carrying him so dispelled themselves, so now Naruto dragged the man by the legs to their destination

Tazuna knocked on the door and waited for whoever was inside to open the door. After a few seconds the door opened to show a young woman who became happy to see the old man "dad your back!" she said as she hugged Tazuna

Tazuna chuckled at the young woman and hugged back "of course I'm back and it's thanks to these Shinobi here". Tazuna turned to team 7 and gave introductions "this is my daughter Tsunami. Tsunami these are the ones who took the request"

Tsunami had long blue-coloured hair, she was wearing a short-sleeved pink shirt with the end of the sleeves and the collar being red in colour and a long blue skirt.

Tsunami looked at the group and gave a thankful bow "thank you for taking on our request and seeing my father home"

Naruto smiled and dropped kakashi's left leg and wave it off like it was nothing "don't worry about it. It was nothing"

Sakura stood behind him with Sasuke and smiled while Sasuke smirked

Tsunami then noticed the unconscious man on the ground and gasped "oh dear is he alright?"

Naruto looked behind him to see his sensei was still knocked out "oh he's fine but do you have somewhere we can put him?"

Tsunami nodded "of course please come in" she said as she allowed them in and once she closed the door she walk to a staircase and called up "Inari! Come down here please! We have guests!".

After she called a young boy came down from the stairs "what is it mom?" and when he saw the others his mood became sour

Tsunami looked to team seven "this is my son Inari" and then looked at Inari "Inari these are the shinobi that your grandfather hired to protect him"

Inari's face grew angry as he looked at team seven "you should leave and stay out of our business" he said as he ran back up the stairs

Tsunami sighed at what Inari said but she understood why he was like this "I'm sorry about him. He has been like this for a while but he doesn't mean much by it". Looking at Naruto she continued "anyway we have two guestrooms that you can use, up the stairs and the last two doors on the right. You can place him in one of them to rest"

Naruto gained a devilish smile as he looked up at Tsunami "thank you Tsunami-san, I will take him right now" and Naruto made his way to the stairs still dragging Kakashi.

Everyone watched Naruto take his steps up the stairs but winced when they heard it

*thump*

*thump*

*thump*

The sound of Kakashi's head hitting the steps. Tsunami would have asked if he needed help but she saw the smile on the boys face as well as what he was saying and realized that he was doing it on purpose

Naruto had a different thought every time he heard a thump

*thump* "oops" 'that's for ripping my jacket'

*thump* "oops" 'that's for always being late'

*thump* "oops" 'that's for being a pervert'

*thump* "oops" 'that's because of your creepy eye'

*thump* "oops" 'that's because I felt like it'

*thump* "oops" 'that's because I think it's funny'

This kept going until he made it to the top and Naruto dragged him into the room and created a bunshin to help put Kakashi to bed. He then reached into one of Kakashi's pockets and pulled out his wallet before he took some money out of it "payment for a replacement jacket…...and some ramen too" and with that he left the room, missing the massive welt that grew on Kakashi's head

* * *

~that night~

Naruto had chosen to sleep outside in a tent but not without a lot of convincing since Tsunami was worried the boy would get a cold as she told him how he could sleep in the guest room with his teammate and sensei since there was room and she had some spare blankets but he told her that he would be a sort of guard for the house. He convinced her and told her not to check up on him since he would be alright. Kakashi was another one to convince but after telling his sensei that it would help out having one of them outside as a guard, Kakashi relented and allowed it.

Once he set up his tent he went inside and pulled out his sleeping bag and undid his **henge **to go into his mindscape. He also had a clone out to watch not only for intruders but to make sure no one went to see him

* * *

~Naruto's mindscape~

Naruto was rushing to where Rama would be, and he had an irritated look on his muzzle. Once he made it to Rama's tree he sat there with his tails irritatingly hitting the ground behind hims as he looked up at Rama as he came out

Kurama looked down and saw that his kit was mad at him and had an idea as to why "**what's wrong kit?"**

Naruto huffed at the question and ranted "you know what's wrong damn it, why didn't you tell me you could talk to me when I'm awake!? I thought the only time you and I could talk was when I slept! How long have you been able to do that?!"

Kurama thought it was funny and cute to see his kit rant as he imagined what this would look like to others, a massive fox looking down at a tiny, patterned fox "**hehehe I've been able to do this since the beginning"**

Naruto pulled his long ears down and screamed "WHAT?! Why haven't you done this before than, why only do it when Kakashi-sensei pulls out that weird eye of his?!" Naruto than lept to the top of Rama's head and started to beat on his head, but put no strength in the hits

Kurama just let his kit keep hitting his head as he spoke "**because I enjoy it when you come to me and talk about your day to me, face to face"**

Naruto slowly stopped his beating when he heard this and just laid down on the top of his head "...ok….. But if I ask for some help or advice while I'm awake, will you talk to me…..please?"

Kurama moved his eyes upward "**of course, if you ever need help, I will be here"**

Smiling Naruto put his head down "thanks Rama-tou-chan"

* * *

~next day~

Team seven were all gathered around Kakashi as he had woken up while Sakura was taken care of him. Kakashi was right now rubbing his head "any of you know why my head hurts so much? I don't remember being hit in the head so hard". The team just shook their heads while in Naruto's mind he was laughing hard

Kakashi just tried to ignore the throbbing and looked to his genin "well thanks for getting me here but there is something that you guys need to know". Everyone gave him their full attention "Zabuza is possibly still alive". The whole genin team started to panic since they didn't believe him to be. Kakashi lifted his hand to stop any questions they were about to shoot and looked to Sakura "Sakura-chan can you tell me what a hunter-nin does when they have subdued their target?"

Looking up and with a finger to her chin she thought about what she read in a book "Hunter-nin are Shinobi that are hired by villages or nobles to hunt down ninja that have abandoned their home and are a threat to the village they come from. Hunter-nin are to either capture their target alive if requested but more likely to terminate the target and return the head and incinerating the body to avoid any possible secrets the body may possess" she recited as if reading from a book. It was then realization dawned on her

Kakashi nodded his head when he saw she figured it out "yep, the hunter-nin took the whole body and showing no signs of even considering finishing the job, and if I had to guess, I would say that they were in league with each other". Kakashi then looked at Naruto "could you track them by scent since you have a nos like an Inuzuka?"

Naruto was a little taken aback being asked this. He has never been asked to do this before. "Well I could but I couldn't really smell them since the strongest scent was alcohol" he then looked ashamed for not doing it "sorry"

Kakashi eye smiled at him "maa maa Naruto-kun it's fine, but since we can't track them we will have to keep guard until he comes to us" the look they all gave him told him they weren't expecting that "his job is to terminate Tazuna and he isn't the type to give up on a job so we need to be ready for when he strikes"

They remained silent until Sakura broke the silence "how will we do that Kakashi-sensei"

Kakashi eye smile and said "we train. Tomorrow I should be able to move again, and at that time we will start but for now I want you to be on guard duty for the family. Gato might send others to take care of them".

The team nodded their heads and began to leave the room until Naruto turned back and asked "hey Kakashi-sensei, how long do you think it will be until Zabuza comes back?"

Kakashi looked up in thought "well….since he took a good hit from the fire jutsu and the burns he must have gotten…..maybe three weeks but since he has help that might know how to heal than two weeks minimum.

They all thought about the time frame and left the room. Once he was alone Kakashi reached into his weapons pouch to pull out his book…..but couldn't feel it in there "Where is it?!"

The genin were walking down the stairs when they heard "where is it?!". Sakura turned back and asked in worry "something happened". Naruto just started to laugh lightly and pulled out a little book "yeah, I took his book"

Sasuke looked between the book and Naruto "why the hell would you do that, dobe?"

Naruto just stuffed into his pocket and walk past them before turning his head to say "payback for ripping my jacket"

* * *

~later in the afternoon~

Naruto was walking with Tsunami through the town on their way back after getting some groceries,even if it was very little and even if on the outside Naruto looked like he was fine, on the inside he was a mess. The second he got close to the town he felt all of his spirit drained from the sadness, the fear, the hopelessness, and the depression coming from everyone around him. He felt like he wanted to cry from it and he was holding back the tears from not only feeling it but seeing it. Everywhere he looked, there was no light, no happy talk, no kids playing, instead the adults looked afraid to even be outside, kids were on the side begging for scraps. Even if the people were going about their lives as best they can, they weren't living.

As they kept going, a little girl, who looked no older than five, came up to him and held her hands up "please sir do you have any food to offer?". It broke his heart, in his eyes, he could see himself doing the same thing when he was younger but the villagers kicking him away or spitting in face. Tears began to run down his face so putting down the groceries he reached into his jacket pulling out five ration bars and giving it to the little girl. He knelt down and placing his hand on her head he spoke in a broken tone "I'm sorry I can't give you more. This is all I have. Share it with your family and be strong for them. I have come here to help and soon you won't have to beg for food anymore".

He watched as the little girl ran back to where he assumed her home was and he wiped the tears from his face with his arms before he picked up the groceries and began walking.

Tsunami had her own tears and how broken the boy sounded and it seemed like he knew how it was to live like this "Naruto-kun are you ok?"

Naruto didn't turn his head he just kept walking "yeah, this is just another reason for us to complete this mission"

They continued walking back to Tsunami's home without saying anything else. Once they made it back Naruto sat alone at the dining table and with a determined look on his face read Anko's ninja tips guide

* * *

~next day~

Team seven were in the forest close by to Tazuna's house and Kakashi was in a happier mood when he found his book on the nightstand next to the bed. Kakashi just finished telling them about tree climbing and how it not only helps with Chakra control but it can increase chakra reserves. Each of them grabbed the kunai and looked at their tree

Naruto had a look of determination, set on becoming stronger and ran to the tree. As he placed his foot on the tree…...and it exploded, launching him back before it began to fall towards him. He rolled out of the way, shocked about what happened

Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief before looking towards Naruto "I think you added way too much Chakra to it. Remember you need to use an even flow of it to stick to the tree, too little and you slip off, too much and you will be launched away". He sweat-dropped when he looked at the fallen tree "or in this case make the tree explode"

Sasuke had fallen on his back when the tree exploded and got angry at the blonde

Sakura ran into the tree since she lost focus and tripped from the sound

Both looked at the fallen tree and just sweat-dropped at it

Naruto just looked at another tree and slowly started to place his foot on the tree. He decide that he would use as little chakra as possible while let it flow to his feet he figured better to slip and fall rather than be launched or destroy the tree

After seeing the three start the exercise he decided to head back to the house so he could get some rest and read

After Kakashi left and Naruto had made it five feet up the tree, he decided to make this go faster. So with a bit of focus he made fifty clones and sent them into the forest to do the exercise

Sasuke looked confused at what the blonde was doing "hey Dobe what's with the clones?"

Naruto kept his eyes on the tree in front of him "they are to help me train. Jiji told me that whatever the clone learns, I learn so using them they can help me learn something faster" looking back at the fallen tree he continued "I would have made more but if too many do um….that, then it could destroy the forest"

Sakura was impressed at the idea of using them to learn something but Sasuke was furious at the idea of the dobe learning tree walking before him

Naruto could feel the hatred coming from the Uchiha but he didn't care, he wasn't doing this to show off, he was doing it to become stronger. Strong enough to help the people in Wave

* * *

~2 days later in the afternoon~

The three genin had made good progress, with Sakura being able to get to the top of the tree first and Naruto being the second but Sasuke has yet to make it to the top much to the Uchiha's ire.

Naruto had kept going even when made it to the top. During his training one of his clones undid the **henge **and tried it in his fox form, which turned out to be easier for him so he had a few of them do it that way

Now the team were at the table eating a stew that Tsunami had made. Normally they wouldn't have this kind of meal but thanks to Naruto hunting a few rabbits and a wild pig they had plenty to eat for a while. Naruto would have enjoyed the meal more if it wasn't for the little boy that was standing away from the table and glaring at them

Inari looked at the Shinobi as if they didn't belong and he made his opinion clear "your all going to die". Everyone stopped eating when they heard this and turned to the little boy "Gato is going to kill all of you if you get in his way"

Sasuke just scoffed at this "like he could do anything. He is nothing but a weakling" he said before he glanced at Naruto 'the dobe too'

Inari just grew angrier "like your strong! You think you could stop him and be heroes! There's no such thing as heroes and it's not like you know anything about us! I bet you all live happy lives without any worry or care. What would you know about the suffering we had to deal with!"

Naruto had sat there listening to Inari as well as feel the kids emotions, sadness, regret, anger. These were emotions that he has felt a lot. But when he heard Inari talk about not knowing what suffering was about, something inside him snapped. In a quick show of speed he was in front of Inari, lifting the kid by the collar, glaring in his eyes and in a low voice he spoke "don't talk as if you know anything about us. You think we live a pampered, happy life? What the hell gave you that idea?!" everyone was shocked to see Naruto do this to the little boy and were about to get them away from each other but Naruto kept going, ignoring them "you think you have suffered more than us?" Inari was scared silent as he stared wide eyed into Naruto's eyes that looked like they were becoming a bit more slitted "where are your scars from your beatings than huh?! …..You didn't get beat did you? Well were you ever out on the streets begging for any food only for the people to kick you aside or spit on your face as they called you a plague?!" Tsunami at first thought that Naruto was talking about the little girl they met in town but she realized that he was talking about himself "did you ever go to sleep knowing no one be there when you wake up or even knowing if you would even get to see tomorrow?!"

Everyone winced at this, Sakura and Sasuke did not believe that someone could live like that, especially in the village. Kakashi knew everything that Naruto was saying was true and that he dealt with more than just that. He especially remembered the night of Naruto's 8th birthday

Naruto brought Inari closer "you have your grandfather and mother, don't you? You have meals to eat even if you have little". Naruto then dropped Inari on his butt as the boy looked up at Naruto and stared into a flaring blue, slitted eyes "don't think you have the worst life out there because there are people who have lives that are better or worse than you" now that he was finished, he turned to the door and began walking out "I need some time alone! I'll be back later!" he said before he slammed the door shut

Tsunami turned to Kakashi "has that boy really gone through all that?" she said before she looked to Inari who got up and ran up the stairs with tears in his eyes

Kakashi wanted to deny it. To say that it was an exaggeration, but he knew it was the truth so he nodded his head "yes…..and more"

* * *

~in a forest clearing~

"Raaagh".

After Naruto left, he made his way deep into the forest and let loose. He created a horde of shadow clones and he himself in his anger dropped his **henge **and went all out against all of his **henged **clones, biting, clawing and swiping his tails. He had removed his jacket and pants leaving him in his shirt and boxers to allow him to move easier. Once all the clones were wiped out, he was panting with his tongue out until he put back the **henge**, got up on his feet and put his pants back on and sat down closing his eyes to rest a bit 'damn it, I shouldn't have done that! But what he said hurt…..'

He continued to lay there for forty minutes just enjoying the sound of the woods. He made sure not to sleep since his **henge **would drop and he was glad he did because he suddenly smelt someone coming but it wasn't anyone he knew. Keeping his eyes closed to fein sleep he waited to see what this person wanted

The person had long hair wearing a pink, sleeveless kimono, with pale red edges and decorated with small plum-coloured swirls, that went to the ankles, a white obi tied in a bow, and a pair of light brown sandals with dark straps.

The person had seen the sleeping boy and walked up to him slowly bringing a hand close to the boys neck

Naruto couldn't feel any ill intent from the person and jolted a bit when he felt a hand on his shoulder

"You'll catch a cold if you sleep out here and without your jacket on" as the person looked over to the discarded jacket

Naruto sat up and looked at the person 'wow pretty' as he looked at the person who had fair skin and a soft eyes with a smile that looked like she cared for many "don't worry about me, I have never gotten a cold" as he looked at the person he noticed a few things, the gentle air around this person reminded him of Hinata, and the person smelled of flowers and water which reminded him of Ino, and that made his heart hurt a bit.

The person got back up and smiled at him "well that's good to hear. May I ask what were you doing out here?"

Naruto got up and rubbed the back of his sheepishly "I was letting off some steam and decided to relax a bit here. What about you why are you out here?"

"I am here looking for these herbs" as the person lifted up a basket half filled with specific herbs "oh, my name is Haku"

Naruto stuck his hand out for a handshake "my name is Naruto Uzumaki. Do you want any help, I think I can find some"

Haku was not expecting this but accepted the handshake "thank you"

And so Naruto started to sniff the air trying to find more herbs for Haku. During the time that they were picking the herbs, Haku decided to start up a conversation "Naruto-san, you said that you were out here blowing off steam right? What were you doing, I saw some signs of a fight where I found you."

Naruto felt a little down remembering what he was doing and why "well I was training, since I needed to vent, it's the best way I know how and it helps me get stronger"

Haku looked over to the boy "you wanted to get stronger? Does this mean you have someone that is precious to you?" (read this kind of speech so many times)

Naruto stopped for a second as images of people he cared about shot through his head and the last two stayed longer then the others. A girl with a kind smile, gentle pupil-less eyes, and dark blue hair, while the other image was a girl with platinum blonde hair done in a ponytail with teal green eyes, and a bossy yet caring attitude "yeah I do" he said with a smile

Haku saw the smile and knew that whoever it was, he cared a lot about them "then you will become much stronger. I believe that if you have someone precious, you will go to great lengths to protect them"

Naruto smiled at this, since he took what Haku said to heart

After an hour of searching and getting deeper into the woods they finally filled the basket and Naruto was picking up one last one "well that took awhile but we got the basket full. What are these for anyway?"

Haku smiled at the boy "these are to help someone precious to me, since he was hurt"

Naruto got up from the ground and smile as he put the last one in the basket "well

I hope this helps Haku-chan"

Haku laughed a little at this before bowing to the boy "thank you Naruto-san for helping me gather these"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and smiled " your welcome" as he said this Haku turned around to leave "hey if you need anymore help finding more herbs I'll be here around the same time"

Haku turned around and smiled "that would be very helpful. Oh and before I leave, just to let you know. I am a boy" and with that Haku left a stunned Naruto and after he walked for a bit he heard in the distance

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!"

* * *

~unknown location~

Haku entered a safe house much deeper into the forest. As he entered the room he turned to enter another room to meet with his patient. Once he entered the room he looked towards a bed that had one occupant, who had burns all over his body and was grunting in pain as he tried to sit up. "Zabuza-sama, you shouldn't be moving with those burns you have, otherwise you will be bedridden longer"

Zabuza looked over to Haku with a glare "you think I would be able to sit still! When we lost a fight with a bunch of kids! Next time we fight them, both of us will fight, I want my rematch with Kakashi since we didn't finish and you can have the runts"

Haku put the basket down as he grabbed some of the herbs and began to grind them into a salve "as you wish Zabuza-sama,but if you want to get to your rematch faster you need to stop fidgeting and rest"

Zabuza grumbled under his breath, Something along the lines of "cheeky brat" he slowly laid down and let Haku make the salve. After a few minutes Zabuza asked "how long will it take until I'm back on my feet?"

Haku paused for a second before answering "normally, it would take 3 to 4 weeks until you are back at full strength but, if you listen to me and rest you will be healed at minimum 2 weeks."

Zabuza was not happy at the time frame but just kept his complaints in his head

Haku smiled and went back to making the salve, while also thinking about the blond and the idea of meeting him again

* * *

~2 weeks later~

Through the two weeks that passed Naruto had been training every chance he got. Sasuke had been able to finish the tree walking exercise a few days after Naruto but it only made him angrier at taking so long. Kakashi was back to walking straight and had been focusing again on their reflexes and speed but unbeknownst the the rest of team seven Naruto started working on different chakra exercises since the book he was reading had tips on improving chakra control, and he was working on two of them. One of them was to keep a leaf stuck on his forehead which was shown in the academy but it was one of the days he was kicked out of the class and the other exercise, which he came up himself, was to balance on the base of a kunai that was wedged into the ground, on only one finger. He came up with this idea when the book said that being able to focus chakra on one point would help and the smallest and more focused the point was, the better at control you would get. He wanted to do it on the tip of the blade of the kunai but when he did it the first time he accidentally shut down his chakra and fell on the kunai, getting it jammed into his shoulder, it goes without saying that he now used the base of the handle. He had made forty clones to work on the exercises in the forest, ten working on the leaf exercise in his fox form and ten in human form while he and the rest of the clones work on the Kunai exercise.

Not only did he train when he could, he had met up with Haku in the same location every other day and right now they were gathering up more of the same herbs that they had gathered before and he was telling Haku about his pranking month against a clan in his village "...he then had to get back to his compound in only his underwear. What made it funnier was that he was so embarrassed that he forgot he could get there faster on the rooftops or **shunshin** hahaha"

Haku gave a small laugh at the prank. He never thought anyone would be able to do this to a clan and although the pranks were somewhat harmless, if done with seriousness, the boy could be deadly but the blonde does not seem the type to even consider it "your stories never cease to impress me. Your pranks seem expertly done" Haku said before a hint of sadness hit her, something that Naruto took notice of

Naruto looked to Haku and wondered what was the problem "hey Haku, you ok?"

Haku just nodded his head "yes I am fine Naruto" but knew what was bugging him. Zabuza was almost back to full health and that he and his new friend were going to fight each other and most likely to the death, but he knew the boy was just another obstacle that needs to be removed in order for Zabuza's dream to be realized.

Naruto knew Haku was lying but didn't want to bring it up since it might have been personal "if you say so. Anyway, you remember the bridge builder that I told you about" seeing Haku nod he continued "well turns out that he is almost done with it and once he is done we only get to stay here for a bit longer. So…. I guess that we won't be able to talk after that"

Haku didn't like the idea of the bridge being close to being finished because it means that the fight they would have was coming soon as well, part of him wanted the bridge to be finished already so that Naruto and his team would leave before Zabuza was healed. "I guess that would mean we have to say goodbye, doesn't it"

Naruto shook his head as he smiled and said "I don't believe in 'goodbyes' because to me it's always 'see you later'"

Haku heard this and felt like he would regret it "sometimes it's not that simple. Maybe it would have been better not to meet, you might end up regretting it if something happens"

Naruto tilted his head, wondering why Haku would say that "you should never regret meeting a friend, you should only regret losing one" Naruto then thought about Ino and how they fought, which caused a look of sadness to show

Haku knew one of them would be feeling regret when they met next, as he got ready to leave he smiled at Naruto "well Naruto, I have the amount I need and my friend will be back on his feet soon so I suppose that you won't need to help me finding more. Thank you"

Naruto just rubbed the back of his head and smile "your welcome Haku. honestly it was fun helping you. You know next time I come back to Wave I could bring my friends, I know you would like them"

Haku gave a sad smile "I would like that Naruto" and he turned around and began to he walked he turned his head and waved to Naruto "I'll see you later Naruto" 'and I hope it's much later'

* * *

~later at Tazuna's house~

Naruto had made it back to the house just as Kakashi started talking to the rest of Team seven. Everyone looked over to the door as Naruto walked in and Kakashi eye smiled at him "ah Naruto-kun good that you made in time, I need to speak with all of you"

Naruto walked up to his team "whats up?"

Kakashi's face grew serious and the team knew that they should give their full attention. Sakura spoke with a bit of worry in her voice "what is it Kakashi-sensei?"

"It's been two weeks since we saw Zabuza and I have a hunch that we should all be on high alert from now on"

Naruto got a little nervous at this as a few thoughts ran through his head 'I might have to do it now…'

Sakura started to shiver a bit 'I'm not ready to go through that again. What can I do to help?'

Sasuke smirked with the idea of fighting 'good, now I can show that kiri shinobi who is the better fighter'

Kakashi saw the reactions of his team and got up "anyway you all should be ready for a fight at anytime, since we are not sure when he might show up". Seeing that his team nod their heads he changed his demeanor and eye smiled "good"

* * *

~that night~

Naruto waited until midnight, when he knew that everyone would be asleep before he walked out of his tent and made his way into the forest. Making his way deep into the forest, he sniffed the air to make sure that no one was around and no one had been there, before he pulled out a kunai, put it in his mouth, undid the **henge **and got ready for what he was about to do 'Rama-tou-sama…...I'm ready'

'**Ok kit. Just remember that I'm still hear as you go through it. Get ready, ten seconds before I start…...stay strong kit'**

Naruto began to hyperventilate as the seconds pass. Closing his eyes he took a deep breath as the last second passed and his whines began to echo through the forest, going through the shift to human for the second time.

* * *

End of the chapter

Had fun with this one.

I was actually going back and forth on whether or not to make Haku a boy or a girl and when I was getting to the end of the their first meeting I couldn't decide so….I flipped a coin

Male won, even if it doesn't affect their meeting

The kunai chakra control exercise I was inspired by a scene in Yu yu hakusho, and thought that in essence it would be a good way to help chakra control

To all those who got that, thumbs up to you

One other thing I want to say is that I have read the someone precious to you speech so many times that I wanted to skip it but it was important so I had to go through with it

Please read and review


	19. A test of resolve

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

(author comment) - not a lot of them

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

A single action can change your fate but would it be for the better or the worse, only time will show it

* * *

Chapter 19: A test of resolve

~6 AM after the shift~

Naruto was slowly making his way back to his tent since he still had a couple hours left until everyone else woke up. 'Why do I get the feeling that I'm going to have to do this a few more times in my life. At least it didn't hurt as much as last time…...not like it matters, it still hurt like HELL! Ugh'. once he made it to his tent he gingerly laid down on his side, on his sleeping bag and closed his eyes just to sleep 'I hate this….' he than slowly reached into his weapons pouch and pulled out the privacy seal 'I DIDN'T EVEN NEED TO USE THESE!...I guess I'll use this for next time….ugh…..next time' and with that Naruto went to sleep, too tired to even enter his mindscape

* * *

~Meanwhile at Zabuza's hideout~

Zabuza was sitting on his bed with his against the wall looking at Haku prepare whatever medical concoction he was using to ease the pain he still felt but the pain was now more like a small ache rather than pain "hey Haku how much longer until I can fight again"

Haku looked over to Zabuza, and after a few seconds answered "well you are almost fully healed. Two days until your burns are completely gone and I would recommend resting for a day or two longer so you are at full strength"

Zabuza nodded his head, never doubting Haku's assessment of these sorts of things and only had thoughts on his upcoming rematch 'you wont get off easily next time Kakashi'

Haku went back to what he was doing with different thoughts ' I am giving you all the time I can Naruto-san. I just hope you will have left by then'

"What a couple of useless shinobi. Why the hell did I even hire you if all you are going to do is lay about!"

Both of their thoughts were interrupted from a man with shaggy brown hair, wearing a pair of small, circular black glasses. He wore a black suit with a purple tie, closed toed shoes and leaning on an ornate cane

Haku scowled at the man as he said his name "Gato"

Gato was accompanied with two thugs dressed as samurai and armed with katanas. He walked up to the bed that Zabuza was sitting on as they both glared at each other "what the hell are you two wannabe shinobi doing. Your job was to kill that stupid bridge builder and not only is he still alive he is almost done with his damn bridge. If he gets that bridge up and running, I will lose my foothold on this land and lose a potential route for my business!"

Zabuza just scoffed at the small man. All he heard was a whiny bitch that isn't getting his way "what do I care about your smuggling business. Your paying us to do a job and we are going to do it. So stop your whining!"

Gato was furious at this, not getting the respect he thinks he deserves and lifted his cane in his right hand, ready to strike at the man but as his hand reached the height of the strike, two senbons pierced his hand

"ARGH" Gato had dropped his can and brought his hand in front of him to see that two senbon pierced through his hand. Before he could do anything else a hand grabbed his wrist and another roughly ripped out the senbon before the first hand twisted his wrist enough to break it "AAAAAHHHH"

The two samurai grabbed the hilt of their katanas and were about to charge but they only made one step till their heads were cut clean off and sent flying. Behind them was Zabuza crouched down, his sword in his hand with his arm stretched out.

Gato was on his knees gently holding his broken arm as he felt something hit his foot. Looking back he saw it was the head of one of his guards "waaahhhh". Looking up he saw Zabuza standing over him and he began to sweat

Zabuza looked down at Gato before he crouched down to meet the man's gaze "we will get the job done. Now leave before you lose something else"

Gato scrambled to his feet and made his way to the exit. Before he was out he turned to them and in a shaky voice he spoke "that old man will finish the bridge in a matter of days, I'm giving you two days to finish the job or you won't get paid!" and with that he left

Haku continued to scowl in the slimy mans direction until he looked at the bodies of the thugs "Zabuza, couldn't you have at least sent them out of the hideout. Now I have this mess to clean up"

Zabuza shrugged his shoulders "they were vermin that needed to be dealt with". Zabuza began to move his arm to test his mobility "well it still stings a bit but I should be able to fight soon. We strike in two days, be ready by then Haku".

He made his way to the bed missing Haku's small look of despair 'I'm sorry Naruto-san'

* * *

~9 AM~

Naruto hobbled into the house getting everyone's attention. Tsunami looked worried at the boy. After the rant he went did, she felt a bit of maternal protectiveness for the boy, seeing as how he ha live a hard life much like the rest of them but somewhat worse seeing as, from what she guessed, he was never treated kindly.

Inari was afraid of Naruto, after being yelled at by him but he also thought that the blonde shinobi could really help them. If he went through all that and still came out to help than maybe he could be the hero they needed

Tazuna glared at the boy. Not really hating the boy entirely but he was mad when one day he woke up to find that all of his sake was gone, even the ones he hid away. He couldn't even buy any to bring to the house since when he put them away in the cupboard the disappeared a few minutes later. He knew it was the blonde, he just didn't know how

Sakura looked concerned or her teammate since she has seen him this tired and beaten only once wondered what he had been doing to cause him to be this way but she didn't know how to ask

Sasuke just scowled thinking that the blonde was doing some sort of training and wanted to know what it was so he could use it

Naruto walked until he was in front of Tsunami before asking "is any of the food from yesterday still good?"

Tsunami nodded her head "y-yes the stew we made from the animals you hunted for us is till ready"

Naruto nodded his head "can I have the rest of it please?"

Tsunami smiled and went to the kitchen to heat up the pot up with Naruto following her

Kakashi watched the boy, from over his book, walk with Tsunami and was curious as to what the boy did during the night that could cause this, since he also remembered the time he came to the training ground like this. He shrugged the thought off before he went back to reading his book, thinking he could ask the boy later. As he was giggling perversely he didn't see Tsunami come up behind him with a frying pan

*BANG*

Kakashi now found his face on the table in front of him and a welt inflating on his head

Tsunami bent down and confiscated the book Kakashi dropped "I told you before not to read this around Inari-chan, so I will be taking this away"

Naruto was sitting at the table opposite of Kakashi with the pot next to him as he ate out of a bowl and he looked at Kakashi as the man turned his head to the side while still on the table and started to cry while muttering to himself "I can never read in peace anymore". Naruto just kept eating, and little by little he started feeling better as he ate

After Naruto finished the whole pot of stew, much to Tsunami's shock, Naruto got up and told everyone he will be outside training. He also told Tsunami he would go hunting again to replace the stew

* * *

~2 days later in the early morning~

Through these two days, Naruto spent his time training to get a bit more comfortable with his body. He found out that if he is able to eat a good amount of food, his body would stop hurting so much and he was now feeling back to normal…..or as normal as he could feel.

Though he now has a bad habit of sleeping in, as it was 10 AM and he was now in what was suppose to be Sasuke's bed, since Sasuke was force to sleep outside in the tent the previous night, snoring into the pillow, wearing a plain white shirt and boxers that had fox faces printed on all over them

The rest of Team seven were standing over his sleeping form as he continued to sleep. They all shook their head at him as they had tried to shake him awake but he just swatted their hands away…..well except Sasuke, he punched him in the face.

Kakashi turned to Sakura and Sasuke "let's just leave him for now. I'll leave a message with Tsunami-san to let him know that we are on guard duty for Tazuna-san at the bridge"

Sasuke gave his usual "hm" and walked out of the room as Kakashi and Sakura followed him leaving the blonde to sleep

* * *

~Tazuna's bridge~

As the group made it to the bridge, they all grew serious when the second they stepped on the bridge, Mist took over the area, which could only mean one thing…..Zabuza.

As they slowly made it to the area the workers were meant to be, they saw that most of them were on the ground. Sakura made her way to some of the downed workers and gave a sigh of relief seeing that they were all just unconscious.

Kakashi looked around to see if he could see Zabuza but saw nothing but he then heard someone speak "this way….copycat". Kakashi heard the voice further down the bridge and began walking "Tazuna, I would tell you to go back but I think you are safer with us"

As they made it further on the bridge they saw Zabuza standing in the center with the hunter-nin by his side. Kakashi walked a bit further with Sasuke walking with him as Sakura stood next to Tazuna. "Well Zabuza, looks like we will be finishing our fight this time"

Zabuza hefted his sword onto his shoulders looking over the group "where's the blonde gaki, he chicken out on this and head home?"

Kakashi shook his head "no he had something else he needed to do so we will be dealing with you"

Zabuza chuckled looking over to Haku "well don't think you will win this time"

Haku gave a small sigh of relief, seeing that Naruto wasn't there and was glad that they wouldn't have to fight "Zabuza-sama should I deal with the others as you deal with Kakashi-san"

Zabuza nodded his head "yeah deal with them but they won't be much of a challenge, it's the blonde that you would have been worried about since he came up with the strategy that got me stuck healing but too bad he isn't here". He then turned his head towards Kakashi "well Kakashi, shall we get this started"

Kakashi's answer was to launch himself to Zabuza pushing him back and began their battle

Sasuke just smirked at Haku and started running towards him, pulling out a kunai and swung it to Haku.

Haku pulled out a senbon and blocked the kunai "you shouldn't rush into a fight with someone you don't know anything about"

Sasuke just scoffed and pushed harder making Haku backflip away before they charged at each clashing again

Sakura stood with Tazuna on guard duty as the other two battled 'I hope you guys win this time'

* * *

~back with Naruto~

Naruto's eyes shot open when he felt ill intent right outside the house. Getting up quickly he heard someone downstairs kick the front door down and he bolted out the bedroom door and made it to the top of the stairs. He heard yelling from downstairs and he heard that there were three thugs harassing Inari and Tsunami but when he heard Inari yell out "leave my mom alone!" he jumped down the stairs, landing in a crouch position, he looked around and saw that one thug had Tsunami's wrist in his hand and pulling her out the door, another was about to kill Inari with a katana and the last one was following the one with Tsunami. As fast as he could he jumped at the one with Inari and sent the thug flying with a flying roundhouse, when he landed he turned and launched himself at the two thugs with Tsunami, coming from the followers back he sent his elbow to the back of his neck.

The thug holding Tsunami saw this happen and pulled the woman to him and brought out a dagger and brought it to her neck "stay where you are punk or else I'll slit her throat"

Naruto stopped moving and stared at the thug "you piece of shit! Why the hell would you take her hostage"

The thug just laughed "I was paid to take this woman anyway to get that old man to give up building the bridge. Who cares if I have a little 'fun' with her before I head there. The faster I get there the better chance I have to meet up with the mob Gato plans on using against that wannabe shinobi. Once we kill him and his partner at the bridge, we will be getting a bonus and then we can go do whatever we want in town".

Naruto scowled hard after hearing this "so Gato doesn't even honor the deals he made and you are nothing but a fucking puppet"

The thug held the knife tighter an pointed it to the blonde "listen hear you pathetic brat, I will…" whatever he was going to say was interrupted as Inari jumped onto the extended arm giving Naruto a clear shot at the thugs stomach. Naruto launched himself to him and buried his fist into his stomach

Inari landed on his butt looking at Naruto who stood up straight

Naruto looked at Inari as Tsunami went to check if her son was alright " you two alright?"

Tsunami looked at Naruto and nodded "yes Naruto-kun. Thank you"

Naruto looked at Inari and smiled "nice job Inari. That just shows that heroes still exist because what you did is what a hero would do"

Inari's eyes watered and he smiled "thanks Naruto-kun"

Naruto chuckled until a thought hit him "where is everyone?"

Tsunami got back up and turned to Naruto "They went to the bridge with my father to guard him"

Naruto remember what the thug said about a mob at the bridge "oh no! I gotta go help them". He grabbed the three knocked out thugs and tied them up and began to leave

Tsunami yelled out to Naruto before he was out the door and seeing him turn around she continued "shouldn't you get dressed before you go?"

Naruto looked down and saw that he was still only wearing a plain white shirt and his boxers "aaahh" and then he ran up the stairs to get dressed

* * *

~back at the bridge~

Sasuke found himself feeling like a pin cushion as his entire body was covered with senbons and surrounding him were mirrors with the image of the hunter-nin. "Why don't you come out and fight me?!"

The images of Haku shook their head "your arrogance astounds me. You started this fight believing that this would be an easy battle but after you started to lose you make demands that you believe will assist you". Haku than launched more senbons aiming to end this fight but was surprised to see him block a few of them. Taking a look at the black haired boy he noticed that his eyes had changed from pitch black to red with one tomoe in each eye 'a doujutsu? From the looks of it, it seems that it is an incomplete sharingan. So it seems that he truly is an Uchiha'. Pulling out some more senbon he got ready to attack once more to end this fight

Sasuke noticed that he could see things more clearly and was able to see the senbons coming towards him, seeing the hunter-nin pause he used the kunai in his hand to look at the reelection of his eyes 'finally! I have them! Now I can finish this fight'

As Haku launch his **Sensatsu Suishō **(Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death) he saw the Uchiha prepare to block them but knew that he wouldn't be able to block all of them. As the needles made their way to the boy, he caught sight of a horde of blonde, orange and black appear inside the ice dome and blocked the needles from all angles, even if some of them hit a target causing a few poofs of smoke '...oh no'

* * *

~with Naruto a few moments ago~

Naruto had made it to the bridge to see that his team were in the middle of a fight. Sakura was guarding Tazuna, Sasuke was in a dome of what looked like Ice panels and being covered in needles, and Kakashi was facing off with Zabuza and looked like Kakashi had gotten a gash going diagonally over his chest. Thinking on where he could help better he chose to help out his teammate since it looked like Sasuke was losing. Rushing towards the dome he made thirty clones and had half of them stay behind while the rest and himself went into the dome. Seeing needles head towards Sasuke, each of the clones pulled out kunais and made a circle around the Uchiha and blocked as many of the needles they could, even if a few were dispelled

Sasuke looked around him to see he was save by Naruto "damn it Dobe! I didn't need your help!"

The original looked back at his teammate and just deadpanned "Teme you look like I could throw a leaf on you and you would collapse" Naruto then felt something foul from the boy apart from his anger and then noticed that the Uchiha's eyes had changed into the Sharingan 'oh great, now he will be even more arrogant than before' taking a deep breath through his nose and turned back to face their opponent '...wait….' *sniff* *sniff* 'I know that smell. It smells like….water and …..flowers….no'. Dropping his arms and standing straighter he looked at the mirror in front of him and looked into the mask "please tell it's not you ….Haku"

All the images on the mirrors vanished leaving only the one in front of the blonde, as Haku pulled off his mask "yes it is me Naruto-san"

Naruto's clones all gaped as they dispelled leaving just Naruto Haku and Sasuke. Naruto walked up to the image slowly until he stood in front of the mirror "so the herbs you were gathering were for Zabuza than" seeing Haku nod he sighed "so you used me to help Zabuza than"

Haku smiled sadly "if I remember correctly you offered to help on your own"

Sasuke who was still standing in the center of the dome heard what was said and came to a conclusion "wait dobe, you helped the enemy!"

Naruto turned to look at Sasuke "it wasn't like I knew Haku was the hunter-nin I just helpe…"

Sasuke just walked up to Naruto and grabbed Naruto's collar "you helped them! It makes you a traitor"

Haku not liking their conversation being interrupted by the Uchiha used his speed to show up behind the Uchiha and sent an Ice needle into the back of the Uchiha's neck, knocking him out

Naruto watched his teammate collapse to the ground 'ouch! I think he fell on some of the needles'. Turning back to the mirror he spoke again "so you were hired by Gato to kill the bridge builder?"

Haku nodded "we took the job needing the money that Gato offered. I am helping Zabuza as a tool to reach his goal so I ask you to stand aside so I may complete my task"

Naruto hated what he heard "Haku, you are not a tool!" taking another deep breath he continued "I can't stand aside Haku. I made a promise to help Wave and I never go back on my word"

Haku felt his heart drop at the implications that the blonde made 'seems like it's time to say goodbye' and with this thought, the dome became filled with Haku's image once more

Naruto looked panicked this "wait Haku! There's something you need to know!" he yelled but it came unheard as he jumped back to avoid a set of needles. Finding himself standing over the prone body of Sasuke 'damn it!' making one clone and dispelling it, one of his clones that he made outside of the dome used the **Kawarimi **to switch with Sasuke, getting him next to Sakura and Tazuna, before dispelling itself and now Naruto and Haku were the only ones left in the dome. "Haku you have to listen to me!". He had to jump back to avoid the ice needles that impacted where he was. Bringing his fist up he yelled at one of the mirrors above him "Haku! Gato plans on betraying you" this action cost him as a set of needles hit him in the back "argh!"

Haku heard what Naruto said but did not drop his guard "clever using such a lie but if you expect me to show mercy than you will die" he said as he launched another set to the blonde

Naruto was still recovering from the last set that hit him and didn't move fast enough to dodge the next set and now his sides were now covered in ice needles. A little blood leaked from his mouth, feeling that some of them had pierced deeper than the others "ugh damn it Haku! I'm not trying to trick you, I heard one of the bandits he sent to Tazuna's house!"

Haku pulled out another set of needles "why should I believe what you say?"

Naruto just stood there as he pulled out a few of the needles "why would I lie about this!? I'm trying to save you! Gato plans on killing Zabuza with a mob!"

Haku hesitated for a second. He knew that Gato was scum but thought that he wouldn't be too stupid to go against them 'but he is the kind of scum to do that. And if what he says is true he could be waiting for us to be tired until he strikes'. Looking at Naruto he asked "what guarantee do I have from you, that you are telling me the truth?"

Naruto stood there and took a deep breath "I promise you that I am trying to save your life"

Haku looked into the boys azure blue eyes and saw nothing but determination and no lies. Dropping his raised hand that held his ice needles, and slowly walked out of the Ice mirror directly in front of the boy. Walking until they were directly in front of each other, he deactivated his Ice mirrors and stood there looking down at the injured boy "I hope you don't break your promises Naruto-san"

Naruto smiled at this and lifted his hand to give him a thumbs up "I never go back on my word, you can believe that Dattebayo!"

As the two of them stood there they both heard the sound of birds chirping. They both turned towards the sound and saw Zabuza ensnared by a bunch of dogs as Kakashi stood a bit away from him, with one hand held up with lightning in it and the other gripping the wrist of his other.

"Zabuza-sama!"

* * *

~a few minutes ago with Kakashi~

Kakashi was on the fence as he dodged another swing from Zabuza 'if I don't end this soon, I'll run out of chakra and be open for him to finish off'. Looking around he got a small glimpse of the ice dome Zabuza's partner made and even if he couldn't see who was in it due to the thick mist he saw that it was collapsing "looks like your partner is finished" 'though whether that's good for us or them has yet to be decided. Hope your ok Sasuke-kun'

Zabuza chuckled at hearing this while hidden in the mist "than that means that your little genin are done for, now all that's left is to end you"

Kakashi didn't like the idea of what Zabuza implied he pulled out a scroll from his breast pocket, wiped some of the blood on his torso onto his thumb, opened a good portion of the scroll, wiped the blood onto the paper, wrapped the scroll back up and held it in both of his hands as he made a hand sign "we will see which of us ends soon enough". He then slammed the scroll to the ground "**Kuchiyose no Jutsu"**

Zabuza was confused at the action since nothing was summoned, but kept his distance for the moment. After a few seconds he heard something cracking but couldn't see where it was coming from, it was only when it got loud that he looked down to see the ground around him was breaking. An instant afterwards the ground exploded and he found himself being restrained by a pack of dogs of different breeds "damn it! What the hell?!". The attack on him had caused him to lose focus on his mist jutsu and the area became clearer but still slightly misty

Kakashi stood some distance from Zabuza and from what he could see, his plan worked. After a few hand signs, Kakashi brought his hand down with the other holding the wrist. After a few seconds the sound of birds chirping could be heard as lightning appeared in his hand "it would seem it wasn't my end that was coming ….but yours"

Zabuza struggled, trying to remove the dogs that were biting down on almost every part of his body leaving only his chest and head free 'shit! I can't get free!'

Kakashi prepared his attack and gave one last look at his opponent "this is goodbye Zabuza". In the background he heard someone scream "Zabuza-sama" but paid it no mind and charged at him.

* * *

~Naruto and Haku~

Naruto stood back as he saw Haku scream and before he could do anything he saw Haku create an Ice mirror an jumped into it. Naruto immediately knew what Haku was about to do and scream

"HHAAAAKKKUUUUUUU!"

* * *

Kakashi thrusted his attack forward as his sharingan eye saw an Ice mirror pop up in between Zabuza and himself and when he saw the hunter-nin pop out of the mirror he heard something

"HHAAAAKKKUUUUUUU!"

Recognizing that voice he flinched 'Naruto!?'

*PIERCE* (not sure how to write out that sound)

*splash*

* * *

~with Sakura, Tazuna and Sasuke~

Sakura was removing some of the needles still stuck in Sasuke's body. She was glad that Naruto had come to help, and seeing Sasuke bloody and unconscious told her how bad the fight was but now that her second teammate was here, she felt like they could live through this. It wasn't until she heard a yell from within the mist

"HHAAAAKKKUUUUUUU!"

She tried to see where it came from but she couldn't see through the mist to see what happened. She recognized it as Naruto, and she became extremely worried when the clones that guarded her and the group all dispelled "what happened?"

* * *

Naruto saw everything and his body just stopped. He stared wide eyed as Kakashi pulled his hand out of Haku, who dropped to the ground and he wheezed out "Haku….?". He heard nothing, he felt nothing, he just completely shut down, standing there staring at Haku's prone body, eyes closed and bloodied

Zabuza felt his anger flare and struggled against the dog summons and with every amount of strength he ripped himself out of most of the summons grip and swung at Kakashi forcing him to jump back with Zabuza following, leaving Haku where he laid.

They both landed close to Naruto but he didn't react to them as they clashed with Kunai blocking furious swipes from the massive sword.

In a quick motion Kakashi swerved into a spin when Zabuza's sword slid passed Kakashi's kunai and he moved his body to maneuver behind Zabuza and he quickly put the kunai to his neck "you lose Zabuza"

Before Zabuza could react he heard a slow clapping (cliche isn't it), further down the bridge. Turning his head he saw Gato walking towards them

Gato kept his slow clapping, even though it hurt the hand that was injured "so this is all the 'Demon of the mist'? I'm not impressed"

Zabuza growled at the man that was still walking towards them "Gato! What the hell are you doing here?" he asked not in concern but in sheer anger and disgust as he had a feeling why he might have been here

Gato made it standing a good ways away, feet away from Haku's body "I came to cut out my early investment, you see, you shinobi are too expensive and I decided to that I would get a cheaper force" as he said this, bandits came walking forward, coming out of the mist and after a few seconds, hundreds of bandits carry different weapons, swords, hammers, axes, a bat, …..sticks and all of them looked like they were ready to kill. "You see I only have to pay this group a fraction of what I had to pay you two. Now that you are weakened I can have these guys kill you and save myself a fortune. Gato walked forward a bit more and saw the fallen body of Haku "too bad this little shit is dead. I would have loved to see him die in front of me" and he kicked Haku in the side

* * *

Naruto didn't hear any of what Gato said, he didn't know what the conversation was about but his eyes continued to stare at Haku and when he saw Haku get kicked, something snapped.

His face of shock slowly shifted to anger 'how dare you'. His posture of standing straight slowly became a hunched crouch "how dare you". The color of his eyes began to fade and after a few seconds, all color left them leaving only the white and the began to give off a white light "HOW DARE YYOOOO**OOOOOOUUUUU! YOU BASSTTAAAAARDDD"**. Red chakra exploded from his body, swirling wildly around him, shooting in random directions and a shockwave was unleashed

The shockwave knocked everyone off their feet and they all looked towards the red chakra that came from the boy. Kakashi had his eyes open wide in panic 'Naruto! Don't tell me the Kyuubi is breaking free!'. Getting back on his feet he tried to think of what to do "Naruto! You have to control yourself"

"**RRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHH"**

Another shockwave forced him to cover his face and trying to keep on his feet.

Sakura, Sasuke and Tazuna were blown away from the battle, and when the second shockwave hit, Tazuna and Sakura chose to stay down. Sasuke grunted in pain when his body moved but he remained unconscious

Naruto had his glowing white eyes (think of eyes from the Gargoyles show when they are pissed) on the shivering Gato that looked back into his eyes. All of the swirling red chakra suddenly got reabsorbed into his body. Steam began to rise from his feet, and he began to walk towards Gato with every step making the moisture under his feet to evaporate. After a few steps he stopped and growled at the man and then the skin on his face and arm peeled off showing black and red underneath, his nails grew long and whitened, the bones of his legs broke with a very audible *CRACK* before they reshaped into his fox legs with the fur growing back but red and black energy could be seen on the tips of some of the tufts of fur, five tails shot out of his tailbone and the energy covered four of them leaving only his center tail (the one with the black streak on it) covered in fur. The skin of his face and arms were now gone leaving his face black, eyes and mouth shining with white light and his mouth made of the energy teeth, his ears replaced with his fox ears covered in energy with the only thing left and his blonde hair remained but with streaks of the energy flowing through some of his spiky hair. His shirt began to sizzle as patches of it burned away and his jacket turned to ash, showing his arms were covered in fur and halfway up his biceps turned back into energy, and his sash disintegrated.

Gato began crying in fear and panicked as he scrambled away "m-m-monster! Get away from me!" turning to the bandits behind him he yelled "what are you idiots doing?! Kill it kill it, kill it!"

Some of the bandits took short shaky steps forward with some of them stepping back

Naruto lifted his head and gave a screeching roar causing a few of the bandits to panic and run away. The movement was caught by Naruto, who in a rush of speed appeared in front of the running bandits and swiped his claw bisecting three of them and shredding the off arms, legs and heads of the rest.

The bandits that were staring at where the monster was turned around when they lost sight of it and saw it was now behind them ripping apart the runners

Naruto finished ripping the head off the head of the last of the runners and looked beyond the bandits and saw Gato '**Ga….TO!'** in another burst of speed, sending a burst of wind through the bandits knocking all of them on each other and Naruto stood in front of Gato staring down at the man

Zabuza stood with Kakashi as they looked at the scene in front of them "Kakashi! What the hell is going on!"

Kakashi took a shaky breath looking at Naruto "...I think Gato has pissed him off"

Naruto looked over the man, and his instincts told him he should kill the man, slowly, painfully and watch every second of it. The man began to crawl away but Naruto grabbed his ankle hard with one of his tails, letting the energy burn his flesh

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH"

Lifting the man to dangle upside down in front of him, he tilted his head in curiosity as the sunglasses on the man fell revealing the beady eyes of the man. Lifting his clawed hand he reached for the man's left eye, and slowly plunged his claws into the man's eyes socket

"AAAHHH AARRGH AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH"

Naruto slowly plucked out the eye and held it in his hand. He lowered his head to look at the eye like it was the first time he ever saw it. Closing his hand, he crushed the eye with an audible *squelch* and let the blood cover the fur of his hand. His jagged teeth of a mouth formed what could be called a smile of glee, he turned his head back to the dangling, screaming man until said man fell to the ground. Looking up to the tail used to hold the man up in confusion saw that the man's foot and ankle were still being held by it, but the man was on the ground, slowly crawling away as he whimpered. Naruto smiled again and sent the other three energy tails to grab the other ankle and both wrists, breaking the cast of his already broken wrist and brought him again in front of him and looked into the remaining eye of the crying man

Kakashi wanted to stop what he was seeing but he knew if he made any move Naruto might change targets

Sakura looked at the scene trying her best to stay conscious due to the pressure she felt. As she saw what happened to Naruto she couldn't understand what was happening. Her attention was brought somewhere else when she heard coughing and a splash of something, looking over her shoulder, she scramble over and began to think of what she could do to help

* * *

~Naruto's mindscape~

The forest of Naruto's mind were rotting, with shadows crawling through the grass and fields

"**Kit! You need to stop"**

Kurama was at the moment plowing through rotted trees trying to stop the smaller five tailed fox that erratically ran through the trees

"**Kit! If you don't stop you'll lose yourself!"**

Naruto's mind construct stopped and turned to Kurama but Kurama could see that the smaller fox's eyes had no color "**oh no"** and Naruto jumped to attack Kurama biting down on his ear "**ugh! Don't make me do this kit!"** shaking his head, he launched Naruto off his head.

Naruto rolled onto the ground and got up and ran on all fours to Kurama roaring as he leapt at the bigger fox

"**Sorry kit"** and Kurama swung his tail towards his kit

* * *

Naruto looked at the man drop without hands and feet as the man convulsed but stay alive. Naruto let go of the hand in his tail and moved it to the mans chest, and slowly pierced into his flesh

"*gurgle* ahh *gurgle*"

Naruto lifted the man with the tail, getting glee at seeing said man flail his stubs, blood flying everywhere, some of it landing on Naruto and evaporating from the energy.

Gato was in pain, from the loss of his eye his limbs and the stab, but the burning coming from said stab was increasing and spreading throughout his body "gack argh gaah" turning his one eye to the monster he slowly panicked a bit more as he saw it open its mouth and the last thing he saw was the white light of its mouth

Naruto bite down on the man's head before ripping it off. He tossed the head towards the bandits since none of them dared move for fear of getting the monsters attention. Naruto swung his tail, and tossed the body away and stood there looking around him. Unfortunately one of the bandits let out a gasp getting Naruto's attention. All the bandits panicked and began to run but Naruto thrusted his arms forward and they extended to the running bandits until it pierced through twenty of them, ten on each arm. The Bandits gurgled out screams as the burning caused them to turn to ash. Lowering his claws to the ground and getting a hold of it he pulled himself to the group and he began to tear them all apart. The sounds of screams could be heard by everyone on the bridge, so much so, that some of the unconscious workers started to wake up. Naruto now stood in a massive pool of blood and body parts, looking for something else to 'play' with. His eyes landed on Kakashi and a small voice in the back of his head spoke '**he did it' **turning to face the ningen '**he killed him' **he took a step forward '**end him'** he flared his tails and crouched to all fours and growled

Kakashi felt small from Naruto facing him, he felt like he was prey in the eyes of a predator 'oh no'. He noticed Zabuza shuffle away from him 'coward'. His attention was brought back to Naruto when he heard the screeching roar and in an instant he lifted his arms to block a tail sent his way. Kakashi slid on his feet, feeling that his arms become numb 'damn it' he had to jump away as Naruto came from the air slamming his tails where he once stood. "Naruto! If you can hear me, you have to stop!" Kakashi used all of his reflexes and skill with the Sharingan to duck under a claw swipe,but although his eye saw it coming, his body couldn't react in time to avoid the knee to his stomach.

The hit sent him flying and he rolled on the ground until he was on his back "ugghh damn it! I don't have enough chakra use any high rank jutsu and I don't have any seals for him" opening his eyes he saw Naruto crouching directly in front of him and one of his claws coming up to his Sharingan eye 'shit' before he could move, he noticed that Naruto stopped all movement, even his tails stopped

* * *

~meanwhile in Naruto's mindscape~

Kurama slammed his claw onto a patch of black grass as a his kit dodged and began to climb on his arm. Naruto made his way to Kurama's face and swiped at the eye, blinding Kurama on one side "**AARRGH! You little…"** Kurama swung all of his tails creating a massive gust of wind sending Naruto away and crashing through a bunch of trees and leaving a crater where he landed. Kurama took this opportunity to quickly run up to the crater and reached in grabbing Naruto and trapped his kit inside both of his hands "**now to end this!"**. Kurama began to pull on Naruto's chakra but Naruto wasn't letting up as Kurama could feel clawing and biting done on his hands "**come on!"**. After a few more seconds a burst of red chakra exploded through the gaps of his fingers, and he lowered his hands down and opened them to see his kit unconscious and breathing heavily "**damn gaki *sigh*. That should get him to stop his rampage"**. Kurama began to look around the area "**now to wait for his mind to repair itself but I need to make sure he doesn't remember what he did"**

* * *

~real world~

Naruto pulled back from Kakashi and grabbed his head as he gave a screeching roar

Kakashi looked at Naruto as he began to roll around in agony. The sound of the roars went on for a few minutes and began to die down

"**SSSSCCCRREEEEEAAAAAAAGG**GGGGGggggggghhhhhhh"

Kakashi saw that the energy that covered Naruto's body was receding and once it was done Naruto stood there with all the skin there was red while his arms still remained furry with claws, his legs still like a fox, ears still long and the five tails drooped down. Naruto then collapsed onto the ground as Kakashi still sat on his butt in shock.

Zabuza walked up to Kakashi and grabbed him by the collar "mind telling me what the hell the boy just did?! What the hell was all that?!"

Kakashi shook his head to get his bearing back and looked from Zabuza to Naruto before his face got serious "it doesn't concern you" getting out of Zabuza's grip he lowered his Hitai-ate and went to check on Naruto 'damn it! I thought Hokage-sama fixed this!'

"Kakashi-sensei I need your help!" Kakashi turned his head to see Sakura calling him over as she kneeled over someone. 'Damn it, Sasuke must be in real trouble. I should have enough chakra for one' putting his index and middle finger into a cross he called out **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** and made one clone "make sure Naruto stays safe". Getting a nod from his clone, Kakashi made his way to Sakura

Zabuza scowled at the one leaving "Hey Kakashi, I'm not finished with you!" just to be stopped by the clone

Kakashi walked up behind Sakura "what is it Sakura-chan? Is Sasuke-kun ok?"

Sakura turned her head to look up at Kakashi "Sasuke-kun is fine. Just knocked out but" Sakura turned back "this guy is losing blood and if we don't help him soon he will die!"

Kakashi then looked to who she was helping and his eye widened when he saw who it was

The Hunter-nin

* * *

End of the chapter

It was always the plan to get Haku stabbed by Kakashi, the only hard part was choosing whether he lives or dies

Also before anyone says anything, NO it is NOT a hanyou Naruto. If I had to call it something it would be more of a mid shift, like he was in the middle of shifting back and just stopped. So he is still a bijuu. This will not last

now Kakashi is close to the truth and will he come up with an excuse to use for Sakura if Sakura asks

Please read and review


	20. Tears of Goodbye

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

(author comment) - not a lot of them

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

To all my readers! I have heard your cries and I must tell you….read to find out :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

Chapter 20: Tears of goodbye

Kakashi found himself sitting in a chair, in the guest room that was given to him and his team to use during their stay at Wave but right now it only had two occupants in it. Kakashi was staring at the second occupant, Naruto, as a multi tailed fox who laid on his side, in the bed unconscious, as he thought about what happened yesterday 'what is going on with you Naruto? And how am I going to explain this to Sakura and Tazuna? The two must have seen what happened'. He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard movement coming from the bed. Moving his hand to his kunai pouch he wondered if Naruto was still in control or if the fox had taken over.

Naruto felt like crap. He felt like he just went through another shift but he knew it wasn't possible since he still had a few days left until he had to shift back. As he regained some of his senses he realised that he could feel his tails but what made him worry was the fact that he felt like he was on a bed, which shouldn't be possible since he would never sleep in a bed if he was in his fox form. Another thing that got his attention was the feeling of anxiety and apprehension but it wasn't coming from him

"Well seems you finally woke up"

Naruto shot up to his feet, ignoring the stiffness he felt from his legs to face the one who spoke and to his shock he saw it was Kakashi 'oh no!'

Kakashi could see the look of distress coming from the fox that stood on the bed in front of him but he didn't let his guard down yet since he still wasn't sure it was his student "I would like to say you look good, all things considered but as you are right now I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing"

Naruto let out a whine as his ears and tails drooped and he sat on his haunches looking at the ground 'all that to work to keep this a secret and now it's over'

Kakashi saw the way the fox looked depressed and it calmed him down a bit because the way he saw it, the fox looked like it was a child that was knew he did something bad and was waiting for the yelling "well, I would like to ask you some questions…..Naruto-kun"

Naruto looked up with a bit of hope once his sensei called him by his name and not the kyuubi. He felt his worry almost disappear when he saw his sensei do his traditional eye smile, which caused his ears to pick up and his tails wag a bit

Kakashi chuckled at the wagging tails "Well, I guess I will have to keep it at yes or no questions, unless you can talk like that?"

Naruto didn't hesitate, and immediately **henged **himself to his human form "I can't really talk when I'm a fox but when in a **henge **I can" he said with a smile until he looked down and noticed that he was naked "aaaahhh! Why am I naked?!" he screamed while covering himself with the blanket

Kakashi laughed at his student and felt that his fear was unneeded. After allowing the blonde to get dressed into another set of his clothes that he brought, he began to ask his questions "so Naruto, why don't we start with…..well….that" he asked not really knowing how to ask the question (me either really)

Naruto brought his right hand to hold his left arm looking everywhere but his sensei's eyes. He tried to think of any excuse that could get him out of telling the truth but he was caught so taking a deep breath he looked at Kakashi and began to tell him what happened during the graduation exam and what he was told about his eighth birthday, keeping what Rama told him a secret

Kakashi listened to his student explain, he knew about Naruto turning into a fox at the age of eight and he was a little miffed at how one of the academy instructors had used Naruto in such a way. Naruto had gotten to how the Hokage already knows about this and that most of the time he uses a **henge **'hmm now that I think about it, most of the time something would dispel the **henge **he would use the **Kawarimi **or it would be a clone. But what about the spars?'.

Naruto had come to his reunion with Rama and he was tempted to just leave it out but a part of him wanted people to know that Rama wasn't evil, he wanted to put in a good word in.

"**You don't have to worry about that kit"**

Naruto jumped when he heard Rama speak 'Rama-tou-sama?'

"**Who else do you know with a voice like mine and at least your not dumb enough to actually speak out loud" **Kurama spoke in heavy sarcasm

Naruto grew a tick mark at being treated like an idiot 'hey! I'm not dumb!' Naruto thought loudly in his head and he could hear Rama laughing

After Kurama finished laughing he continued his talk "**kit I know you want people to think I am good but the truth of the matter is that it doesn't matter if they think I am good or a being of pure evil, there will be people who will not care and still want my power despite their thoughts"**. Kurama could tell that Naruto was about to make an argument about this but he cut him off "**kit, if you want to tell him than it is your choice. I am fine either way, just keep in mind that not everyone will see your side of things"**

Naruto made up his mind about it. He will keep his relationship with Rama a secret for now. He ended his explanation with how he was able to shift his body on his own when he needed it but that brought some things up. When did he shift back, who saw him shift, and what happened at the bridge. Then something hit him

"HAKU!"

Kakashi was a bit startled by the sudden shout but from the panic he saw in the boys eyes, he wanted to see what he remembered "Naruto-kun how much do you remember from the bridge?"

Naruto looked down in thought "I remember stopping the thugs at Tazuna's house, the ice mirror dome, saving Sasuke, talking to Haku and telling him about what Gato had planned…...and then…...nothing? What happened Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi let out a breath of relief at the fact that Naruto didn't remember his rampage and made up a story "well Naruto from what I could tell you were knocked out by the hunter-nin, who you call Haku, and he went to help Zabuza out against me but during the fight he was taken down. Afterwards Gato came by with a group of people and said he wouldn't be paying. Zabuza attacked Gato and with my help we beat everyone and put Gato under arrest and taken away". Kakashi saw that Naruto was listening to all of this and there was no sign of him remembering any of the massacre that took place. As he took note of this he thought back to what happened the previous day

_Flashback_

_Kakashi looked down at the hunter, that Sakura was sitting next to, seeing the hole that he made in the shoulder. He thought back to when he saw the hunter-nin came out of the mirror and the shout he heard from Naruto. That predicting ability of the Sharingan, the surprise of the sudden appearance and the shout from Naruto caused him to shift the path of the __**Raikiri **__and impact into the shoulder instead of dead center. He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard harsh coughing, he looked down to see that the hunter-nin was still alive but barely._

_Zabuza rushed up to them and knelt down "damn it Haku! You useless boy, you just had to block that jutsu with you body didn't you?"_

_Kakashi hearing what Zabuza had called him, realized that Naruto must have met him and became friends. The first thought he had was to leave them be, since they were not comrades and from seperate villages but thinking on what happened to Naruto, he knew that the blonde would be angry if he did nothing to help. He knew he needed to do something to seal the wound or else the boy would die but he had nothing to use. He heard footsteps making there way towards then and looking at them he saw that they were the townspeople 'lucky me, hopefully one of them is a doctor'. _

_Inari had led everyone he could get to join his march against Gato onto the bridge. He wanted to help in the fight against the mob that Gato had and prove to Naruto that he could do something. He was also worried that team seven would need help since it's a mob against Naruto and his team 'hang on Naruto-onii-san, help is coming'. Once they made it to the bridge they saw that it was covered in mist and some most of the workers were unconscious with the few awake trying to move the others off the bridge. After leaving a group to help, the rest went on to where the battle was and saw that the fight was over. Fortunately the bodies of the bandits were further down the bridge and not visible from where they were_

_Kakashi once seeing the people quickly acted, he pulled out a sealing scroll, tossed it to his clone, who unsealed a blanket from it and draped it over Naruto to cover him up since his cloths were now burnt away leaving him in just his jacket and to hide the fox features before it picked Naruto up and jumped away. Once that was done he turned to Sakura "Sakura-chan, whatever you do you are not to say anything about what happened here!"_

_Sakura was shocked about this "but Kakashi-sensei…!"_

_Kakashi shook his head "no! You are to keep all of this a secret, am I understood!" he said with no room for argument, and Sakura could only just give a shaky nod "good! Now go see if any of them is a doctor and if he can help out with this one"_

_Zabuza looked at Kakashi with a curious gaze, ignoring the pink haired genin "why help us Kakashi?"_

_Kakashi didn't look at Zabuza as he dug through his jacket for any food pills and if he had any gauze for the wound "I'm not doing this for you really. I'm doing it because one of my genin seems to have befriended your partner and he would torment me if I didn't help" he said as Sakura came back with one of the towns people _

_Flashback end_

He was pulled back to reality when Naruto called out to him "hmm, sorry Naruto-kun, what did you say"

Naruto grumbled at being ignored "I asked where Haku-san is?"

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head as he answered "wweeeeelllll…"

* * *

~in the second guestroom~

Sakura sat in a chair taking care of the hunter-nin who had a rag on his forehead, breathing heavily and sweating. She took the rag off his head and soaked it in a small bowl of water, wringing it out a bit and placing it back on his forehead. She had volunteered to do this since she felt like she needed to do something to help, since she did nothing during the fight "I wonder if Naruto-san is ok. I haven't seen him since the fight" 'I also want to know what it was he did' "and Sasuke-kun doesn't seem to care, I mean…...I know he wasn't hurt so bad, other than some cuts and bruises but he wakes up and walks off to train" she sighs as she looks back at the hunter-nin and looked at the wrapped up shoulder "Kakashi-sensei told me that you are friends with Naruto-san, so you can't be all bad" as she said this her eyes wandered to his bare chest, since they had to remove his shirt to wrap up the wound, and blushed a bit. Shaking her head she continued to sit there and watch over him

* * *

~back with Kakashi and Naruto~

"He's fine. Sakura-chan is looking out for him while Zabuza is outside, since Tazuna isn't really comfortable with him around"

Naruto had a sigh of relief since he had a feeling of dread about what happened to Haku

After reassuring Naruto he went back to one concern he had "Naruto-kun, you said you could shift from your fox form to your human form and vice-versa but is it supposed to cause you so much pain?"

Naruto realized that Kakashi had seen him shift back and nodded his head "yeah and I had Hokage-jiji give me some tags to keep the yelps or screams of pain I let out….."

Kakashi took a shuddering breath as he remembered what his clone saw

_Flashback_

_Kakashi's clone made it back to Tazuna's house and as he walked inside, towards the guest bedroom, Tsunami walked up to him with a look of worry "Kakashi-san is everyone ok?! Who is that you have there?" she asked as she pointed at the covered body that was over his shoulder_

_Kakashi's clone slowed his pace but kept walking "everyone is fine but Naruto is extremely tired so I'm taking him to the guest room, also I would expect the rest of the team to be arriving soon with a wounded boy". As he made it to the top of the stairs he looked back to see Tsunami at the bottom of them "it would be best if you tell everyone not to enter our room for the time being" he said with an eye smile before he went into the room he rested in the first day._

_When he closed the door, he pulled off the blanket that was over Naruto, made his way to the bed and laid Naruto down "ok…...now what to do?" as he looked down at the boy wondering what to do, he saw a paper tag sticking out of one of his jacket pockets. Pulling it out he realized it was a privacy tag "why would you have this? From what I can tell it doesn't keep the room secured, it only keeps sound from escaping the room but why?" he got his answer when he heard a pained groan coming from Naruto. He looked towards the boy and saw that he began to roll around on the bed and gripping his ribs, which soon lead to his groans turning into grunts which soon became silent screaming and Kakashi could see it was going to get loud, so he reacted by slapping the seal onto the wall and activated it and just in time as Naruto began to scream in pain. Kakashi didn't know what to do, he wasn't a medic and he didn't know what was happening so all he could do was hold the boy down to make sure he doesnt hurt himself. After twenty minutes of the struggling, Kakashi noticed the slight changes that were happening. Small hairs were growing from Naruto's face as well as his nose slowly changed shape "damn it! What the hell do I do! Is the Kyuubi trying to escape!? Damn it Naruto! You need to control it" 'Shit I hope the boss gets here fast, cause I won't last long with this'_

"_AAARRRGGGHHH, AAAAHHH, GRRRRRR, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH"_

_For the next 15 minutes, the clone had held the boy down watching in morbid fascination on the changes the boy went through. He was relieved when he felt the chakra of the original and using one hand he covered the mouth of the boy to keep any noise from escaping as he waited for the original to arrive at the room. Once the original came in, the clone told him to close the door, once that was done he wished him good luck before dispelling and sending the info back to Kakashi who immediately went to hold the boy down regardless of how tired he was. He spent the next hour and a half, listening as the screams turned into yelps of pain and safe to say he hated every second of it_

_Flashback end_

Kakashi shook his head of the memory "Naruto don't do that again"

Naruto grumbled when he heard this "everyone keeps telling me that. It's not like I enjoy do it"

* * *

~15 minutes later~

After Naruto was finished with the explanation, he got out of bed, leaving Kakashi in the room and went to check on Haku, who was still unconscious. He was surprised to see Sakura giving a lot of attention to Haku and not even realising he was standing behind him "is he ok?"

Sakura fell out of her chair in shock and spun her head around to see who it was "Naruto? Don't sneak up on me?!" she hissed at him

Naruto sweatdropped when he was yelled at 'thankfully she didn't screech that out' "I came in normally. You were just so focused on him" he looked towards Haku "so…...how is he doing?"

Sakura picked up the chair and sat back down "he still has a fever and hasn't woken up yet but his breathing has evened out and he isn't sweating so much" she said as she replaced the rag on his forehead

Naruto could see that she was really focused on Haku's care and he was glad that Haku was alive "it's good to see that he has someone taking care of him….."

Sakura just nodded as she continued to watch Haku

Naruto decided to leave the room "well I'll see you later Sakura" he said as he saw that Sakura just nodded again not even looking at him "...okaaaaay…." and he left the room

Sakura sat there for a few more minutes before she went to grab the rag on Hakus forehead but she was stopped by a sudden gasp coming from Haku and his eyes shooting open "oh my kami! Are you ok?"

Haku took gasping breaths as he looked around but stopped when his eyes landed on Sakura "y-you are one of Naruto-s-san's teammates"

Sakura nodded her head "yeah my name is Sakura Haruno, but you need to get some rest, you still haven't fully recovered yet. Don't worry, I'm here if you need anything"

Haku nodded his head as he closed his eyes to get some more sleep "thank you Sakura…..-chan"

Sakura blushed at the suffix but continued to watch over Haku

* * *

~outside Tazuna's house~

Naruto walked out of the house to see Zabuza leaning on the side of the house "if your worried about Haku, he looks like he will be ok…...after a while"

Zabuza scoffed, pushed himself off the wall and began to walk away

Naruto watched as Zabuza walked away "you know you could go see him"

Zabuza stopped walking and turned his head to look at the blonde "he no longer matters to me, he is now just a broken tool with that wound, and I'm no longer getting paid so I'm done here"

Naruto scowled at the man but he felt that what he said about Haku was a lie "So what?! You going to throw him away?! After everything he did for you?! He told me that you were everything to him, that he would give his life to you and you just say he was nothing but tool!" he took a deep breath before he continued "you say he means nothing to you but you lied. Why are you really leaving?"

Zabuza turned to face Naruto "you're naive to think that I cared about him. He was a useful tool that could get me closer to my goal, nothing more" Zabuza turned around and began to walk away "now I gotta find another job that will pay me"

Naruto just turned around and began to walk in the other direction towards the forest but before he was out of ear shot he spoke again "why don't you go steal some of Gato's money from his house or something? It's not like he will know it was you while he's in jail!"

Zabuza paused when he heard this 'Jail? Does the kid not remember what he did? And why keep this from him kakashi?'. He continued walking towards the forest until he reached the edge of it, he stopped and looked to his right "why hide the truth from him…...Kakashi?"

Kakashi walked out from behind the tree Zabuza was looking at and crossed his arms as he leaned on the tree "he doesn't need to know about what he did. If he forgot about killing Gato and the bandits than he can stay the way he is for a while longer. besides …..he doesn't need that baggage on him just yet. Let him be a kid a bit longer"

Zabuza shook his head in disapproval "hm the sooner they get used to killing the better. They stopped being kids when they put the Hitai-ate on, unless Konoha is just a bunch of kids" he paused for a minute before he turned to Kakashi "I want you to do something for me Kakashi"

Kakashi raised his eyebrow, not knowing what Zabuza could possibly want from him, he motioned for him to continue

Zabuza turned to face Kakashi "take Haku with you back to Konoha. I doubt he will be of any use to me because of what you did, so you can have him live the soft life like the rest of you" 'he deserves that kind of life after working fro me for so long' and then he continued to walk away into the forest.

As Zabuza walked by Kakashi, Kakashi nodded his head "I will but I want you to do me a favor as well" seeing Zabuza paused his walk he finished "keep what happened to Naruto-kun a secret, I already ask Tazuna-san and Sakura-chan to keep this a secret, you are the only other person that witnessed the event so I just want to make sure you keep quiet"

Zabuza just nodded and continued to walk. Once he was deep in the forest, a thought came to his mind 'hmm steal from Gato's home….I might just do that'. He stopped walking and turned to look back towards Tazuna's house and a single tear fell from his eye 'take care of yourself Haku'

* * *

~2 weeks later~

It had been two weeks since the battle on the bridge and everyone was finally back on their feet. Haku was distraught when Kakashi told him that Zabuza left without him but Naruto told him that, he actually cared about him and that there must have been a reason he left. After a week Haku did feel better with the help of Naruto and surprisingly Sakura, who took it upon herself to help the boy with anything she could, including retrieving medical plants that Haku knew of that could help with his injury.

Now Team seven and Haku stood in front of the townspeople next to a completed bridge saying their goodbyes. Haku had his arm in a wooden sling so not to move the arm. With the help of Sakura, they were able to get some herbal plants that will dull the pain in haku's shoulder, at least until they make it back to Konoha, where he can get it fixed up

Sasuke kept scowling at Haku and Naruto, hating the idea that he lost to the ice user and hating Naruto for defending him during the fight

Sakura stood close to Haku with the intention of helping him out in case he needs it

Kakashi stood behind his team, with his hand twitching close to his weapons pouch where he kept his precious book, that was given back to him by Tsunami, saying that she didn't want it in the house where Inari could find it. He wanted to pull it out and read it but Tsunami was standing next to Tazuna and she had a frying pan in her hand for some reason

Naruto was giving the final goodbye to a crying Inari "I promise I will come back someday, maybe when I'm the greatest ninja in the world!"

Inari smiled as he wiped away his tears "you better Naruto-onii-san!"

Naruto placed his hand on Inari's shoulder "you know it's ok to cry. Tears just show that you care and that is never a bad thing"

Inari smiled as he just let the tears fall and hugged Naruto. Tazuna was happy to see his grandson have his spirits back, he was also happy that team seven were leaving because he hasn't been able to have a drink in a long time.

Tsunami smiled at the interactions between Naruto and Inari. She had her own tears, happy that Inari has gotten the light in his eyes back.

After Inari and Naruto said their goodbyes, team seven began to walk away, waving at the townspeople. As the townspeople waved goodbye to their heros, Tsunami looked at Tazuna "so, what will you name the bridge?"

Tazuna brought his hand to his chin in thought but before he could say anything, Inari spoke in a normal voice "The Great Naruto Bridge" as he kept looking at the shrinking form of team seven

Tazuna looked at Inari and smiled "I like it. It's a great name"

* * *

~later at night~

Once the team had set up their camp, Kakashi got everyone's attention on who would be on look out "so do any of you want to volunteer for the first watch?"

Naruto raised his hand when this was heard "I can be on watch for the whole night Kakashi-sensei"

Kakashi looked over at the blonde "you sure Naruto-kun? You did the watch for us throughout most of our time in Wave"

Sasuke just scoffed "let the Dobe do it! If he wants to lose sleep doing it, let him" (actually forgot about him for a bit)

Kakashi sighed at the attitude Sasuke now had. Ever since he got his Sharingan, he started getting more arrogant and believes that everything is below him now

Naruto ignored Sasuke and kept his eyes on Kakashi "it's fine Kakashi-sensei" turning his head to Haku and Sakura "Sakura-san is being medical support for Haku-san and he won't be able to do it because he's hurt" shifting his gaze to Sasuke "the Teme will just argue about it or complain or something so….no". Looking back to Kakashi "and I enjoy being outside at night" (foxes are Nocturnal)

Haku didn't like the idea of Naruto staying up all night "Naruto-san, you shouldn't have to do that. I can take watch for some time if you'd like"

Naruto shook his head and smiled at Haku "It's fine Haku, besides your hurt, what kind of friend would I be if I let you do something that could hurt you"

Sakura was grateful towards Naruto for telling Haku not to do it "Haku-san you should only be focus on resting, so you aren't allowed to do anything during the night but sleep" she said in a bit of a lecturing voice

Kakashi just sighed in defeat "ok if you are sure Naruto-kun"

Naruto just nodded as he made a few clones which all jumped into different trees surrounding their camp with Naruto doing the same.

After a few hours pass and eating, everyone went into their respective tents with Sasuke in one, Haku and Sakura in another, in a professional manner of course and Kakashi in the last. Naruto had told Kakashi that he would be on watch the whole night and that he felt natural when outside during the night so he would have the stamina to stay awake all night and still have the energy for the journey home. A few minutes after everyone went to their tent, Naruto could hear Kakashi talking to himself "finally I can read in peace" which was followed by some perverted giggling

"Pervert" Naruto just leaned back on the branch, with his back on the tree and turned his head to look at the full moon

* * *

End of Chapter

Well that's the end of the Wave ark

This chapter was shorter than the usual and nothing really happened in this chapter apart from Kakashi finding out and watching the shift (it's official I'm just going to call the change between the forms "Shift" or "Shifting"), what happened to Haku, Zabuza leaving and Team seven heading back to Konoha

You now know Haku's fate, everyone kept asking me to let Haku live and all I can say is that, it was the plan from the start.

Next chapter we make it back to Konoha

Please read and review


	21. Welcome back

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

(author comment) - not a lot of them

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

Hey readers here is the next chapter. Also if you haven't checked yet I have started another story, check it out

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

~Chapter 21: Welcome back

It was early morning and Team seven had finally made it to the gates of Konoha and most of the team couldn't be happier to be home. Making their way through, they met up with Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki, the gate guards also known as the eternal chunin. They are called that due to the fact that they chose to never take the title of jonin and being content with the easy job of watching the gate. Team seven had to sign into the roster so when the hokage went over the report, he would know who came in and out of the village

Izumo had brown hair, and dark eyes. His hair is combed down and covers his right eye. He wore his forehead protector like a bandanna along with the standard Konoha shinobi outfit which goes all the way up to his chin.

Kotetsu has long, spiky, black hair and dark eyes. He has a strip of bandage running across the bridge of his nose and a light-coloured marking on his chin. He was wearing the standard attire of a Konoha shinobi

Izumo looked upon the new addition that team seven had brought and gave a questioning look towards Kakashi

Kakashi eye smiled at the look and spoke "this is Haku, a wandering shinobi that would like to join up with Konoha but at the moment he needs to head to the hospital due to an injury he received a few days ago"

Kotetsu responded before Izumo could speak "you know protocol Kakashi-san. We need to screen him to make sure that he isn't a threat to the village"

Kakashi nodded his head "I know but the wound he received requires immediate attention. We were able to stall it for as long as we can but it is a fatal wound and it's only thanks to his own knowledge of herbs that allowed him to make it this far"

Izumo looked over to Haku and noticed that the sleeve of the arm that was in a sling had faint lines of red seeping through and the massive dark spot on the shoulder made him realize that the wound was in fact fatal. Placing a hand on Kotetsu's shoulder he brought this up "Kotetsu-san, I can tell that it is a serious injury and Kakashi-san isn't the type to bring a threat to the village so I think it would be ok to screen the boy later, after he has that wound looked at"

Kotetsu reluctantly nodded his head and gave the group the go ahead to enter the village

As the team made their way towards the hospital Kakashi began to think on what to do with Sakura. During their travel back to Konoha, during the night he could hear Sakura wake up in a bit of silent panic, and knew that she was having nightmares about what Naruto did during the bridge fight. A thought came to mind about it, Naruto didn't remember any of it, Sasuke wasn't conscious to see it and Tazuna was old enough to deal with it, maybe not perfectly, but he could. Sakura was the only other person to witness it so they might have to remove it. He would need to talk to the Hokage about it but that's for when he is giving his report on the mission.

After walking for about fifteen minutes they made it to the hospital and entered as quickly as they could

Naruto was the most vocal about it "hey! We need a doctor here!". All of the staff at the hospital knew who was talking and they all sneered at the boy choosing to ignore his request. That is until Kakashi walked in and ordered the same thing with a little bit of KI added to it.

Haku had noticed the looks that Naruto was receiving, not just from the hospital staff but on the way he saw that all of the villagers were giving him the same look. He had also noticed that when they entered the village, Naruto looked like he was on guard. Even though he had a smile on his face, the stiffening of his shoulders and the deliberate steps he was taking made it seem like he was ready for a surprise attack from somewhere. Haku chose to ask Naruto later, as right now he was being put in a wheelchair so they could take him to where he could get treated.

Sakura wanted to stay with Haku but Kakashi had told her that they would meet again

Once the team was outside Naruto stretched his arms in the air "finally back in the village! Now to get my RAMEN" and with that he began to run towards Ichiraku ramen…..or he would have if it wasn't for Kakashi grabbing the back of his jacket

Kakashi lifted Naruto off the ground with his arm extended "hold on Naruto-kun, we need to report to Hokage-sama" Naruto just flailed in the air as Kakashi turned to his team "Sasuke-kun you can head home if you want, Sakura-chan I would like you to join us for this"

Naruto flailed harder after hearing this "hey why does the teme get to leave! And why do you need me?!"

Sasuke scoffed and walked away not care about what they were going to do "hn I've got better things to do"

Naruto was tempted to knock the uchiha unconscious but he couldn't get out of Kakashi's grasp. He kept flailing as Kakashi began to walk towards the Hokage tower "let me go Kakashi-sensei! I'm going to knock that teme out before I get my Ramen!"

Sakura followed behind after giving one last look towards the hospital. During the walk towards hokage tower, Sakura kept stealing glances at Naruto, who now just hung crossed his arms and brought in his legs while grumbling about how unfair it was for him. Everytime she looked at Naruto she could see the actions he did on the bridge, the blood that was spilled and the sadistic smile she saw him give while he was transformed into that…..monster 'what are you…Naruto?'

* * *

~Hokage tower~

Most of team seven now find themselves in front of the Hokage. Kakashi stood behind Naruto and Sakura.

Hiruzen looked at the three in front of him and wondered why it was only the three and not the four. Looking towards Kakashi he noticed that he had a serious look on his face "well Kakashi-san, would you mind telling me what caused you to be so serious on a mission report?"

Kakashi cleared his throat "well Hokage-sama the mission was a bit more hectic than we originally thought". Kakashi began to explain what had happened during the mission and once he got to the bridge he altered some of the events to keep up with the lie he made for Naruto

Sakura gave Kakashi a shocked look when she heard the lie and her eyes kept passing from Kakashi to Naruto wondering why he was lying but she kept quiet because she trusted there to be a reason for it

Once Kakashi had finished, Hiruzen looked at the three and noticed the slight nervous look on Sakura's face but Naruto looked like he wasn't concerned at all but it was thanks to his years of being a shinobi and the knowing the boy to tell that he was holding it in "well that's an interesting turn of events Kakashi-san. You say that this Haku came all this way to join Konoha, although there are procedures for it I can wait until this young man is ready for screening. I will however have an Anbu squad keep an eye on the boy until I am sure he is trustworthy" Hiruzen than leaned back into his chair "well thank you for your report Kakashi-san, I will send out a messenger hawk to the land of waves to discuss their missing portion of the payment, for now you will receive your C-rank payment but the record will show it to be an A-rank. Now you are dismissed"

Once Naruto heard this he jumped in the air "YES, Ramen here I come!" and he ran out the door

Sakura began to make her way out but before she reached the door she was stopped by Hiruzen calling her "Sakura-chan, may I have a moment of your time please?". Sakura turned around and went back to her spot in front of the hokage

Hiruzen pulled out his pipe, put in his favorite tobacco, lit it and took a puff of it "now Kakashi, why don't you tell me what really happened". Hiruzen had a feeling that Sakura had witnessed what really happened and needed her here

Sakura really didn't want to remember what had happened on the bridge but she stood there and listened to Kakashi tell the real story on what happened

Kakashi had finally finished up the story leaving out some details Sakura didn't need to know and his conversation with Naruto. And once he finished he felt like this was the perfect time to bring up his idea "Hokage-sama. I actually have something I wish to ask both you and Sakura-chan"

Hiruzen nodded his head as he himself thought of what he could do to keep Naruto's secret from spreading

Kakashi then spoke "I want to ask if we should erase the memory of Naruto from her mind"

Sakura looked both shocked and horrified by what Kakashi had just said and looked at both the hokage and Kakashi hoping that this would be some sort of joke

Hiruzen noticed the panic on the girls face and went to quell it "Kakashi you should really find a better way to say things like that. Sakura-chan I believe he wants to erase only the scene you had witnessed on the bridge since Naruto himself has no recollection of it but I will ask you….would you like to forget what you have seen?"

Sakura still felt a bit of fear on the idea of losing her memory but she also felt like it would be a blessing if she could forget about what she saw. She felt conflicted, on one hand she would remember everything but never be able to look at Naruto the same way or she could forget it and have some peace. It was a small little voice in her head that helped make her decision "I….will keep my memory"

Kakashi and Hiruzen both raised an eyebrow at this and both asked at the same time "why?"

Sakura just looked down and shook her head gently signalling that she didn't want to tell them. In truth it was fear of the unknown that influenced the her. 'What if Naruto became that monster again and went to kill me? If I don't remember I will be too shocked when it happens that I will be hopeless…..'

Kakashi didn't like the idea of having her traumatized by this but the Hokage had made it her choice so he couldn't say anything

Hiruzen just sighed and nodded his head "very well. You have made your choice but know that after awhile we will not be able to do anything about the memory and you will have to live with it. Also you are not to mention any of what you have seen to anyone! This is something that no one must know about EVER! It's an SSS-class secret and you know of it only because you witnessed it. Is this understood?"

Sakura felt a lump in her throat and gulped before she nodded her head "h-hai Hokage-sama. But can I ask…...what is he….?"

Hiruzen looked into her eyes with a dead serious expression "that is not something you need to know"

Sakura nodded, bowed and slowly left the room leaving Kakashi and Hiruzen alone as both felt like this could cause problems later on

* * *

~Ichiraku Ramen stand~

Naruto looked down at his bowl of ramen with his chopsticks in his hand but he wasn't eating. In fact it was his first bowl and he had been staring at it for half an hour. He had been thinking about what was said to him back in Wave when he asked Kakashi what had happened. He didn't say anything then but he knew…..he had been lied to. Ever since then he had felt fear coming off of Sakura and it was directed at him. He had asked Rama-tou-chan about what really happened and he said that he (Naruto) was knocked unconscious during that time so nothing really happened. Naruto wanted to believe him but the fear coming from his teammate was causing him more stress because he feared that his secret might have been found out

Ayame was worried about Naruto. This was the first time that he DIDN'T eat ramen that was right in front of him. She wanted to ask what was wrong but she didn't know if bringing it up would make his mood drop or not 'I wonder what happened?'

As Naruto sat there he didn't notice someone else coming up from behind him

"A-a-ano, N-n-n-naruto-kun?"

Naruto jumped a bit and turned to see Hinata standing behind him with what he could feel was worry "oh hey Hinata-chan. Whats up?"

Hinata began to poke her fingers together trying to find the words she wanted to use in her question "um…..are you a-alright N-n-naruto-kun?"

Naruto put on his usual smirk, hiding his depressed state "yeah of course Hinata-chan! I mean I finally got back from my mission!"

Hinata looked at the smirk that Naruto gave her and subtly looked at the bowl of ramen on the counter and saw that it was still a full bowl and there was no steam coming from it, which meant it was cold, which made her worry for him. Moving her gaze a bit to look at Ayame who was looking at the two and Hinata could see the look of worry that the waitress was giving the boy. Hinata knew that Naruto wasn't fine and she wanted to help but she couldn't think of much that would help him so she went with the only thing that came to mind. "O-okay. um…..N-n-n-naruto, w-w-w-w-would y-y-you l-l-l-l-like to train with me?" she asked with a blush on her face since this was the first time she asked him

Naruto looked a bit surprised at being asked this but he began to think that training might help him out of the depressing feeling he had been feeling "sure Hinata-chan, sounds like a good idea". He jumped off the stool and placed his payment on the counter but what he didn't realize was that he placed what he would normally pay for his usual visits, eighteen bowls worth "thanks for the meal Ayame-neechan, see you later"

Ayame watched Naruto walk away with Hinata and hoped that the young Hyuga girl could help him out of his depression. She picked up the money and realize that it was too much for what he ordered, even if he didn't eat it. Running out to the stand she wanted to call to Naruto but she couldn't see him anymore "*sigh* I'll just give this to him next time he comes by. I really hope you feel better Naruto-kun"

As Naruto and Hinata walked to one of the training grounds Naruto caught a scent that both made his heart skip a beat, even if he didn't know why, and made him feel a pain in his heart as well. It was the scent he knew just as well as Hinata's scent. It was Ino and based on how strong the scent was getting, she was getting closer. He wanted to see her, talk to her, but he was also afraid, after what they last met he avoided her and everytime he caught her scent he always went in another direction. He missed her but he was keeping his promise to her and this was making him feel worse. "Hey Hinata let's go another way" he said before he grabbed her hand and walked to their right, into an alley that cuts to another street path

Hinata blushed at holding Naruto holding her hand and didn't even think of responding

* * *

~Ino~

Ino was walking down the street not really going anywhere, she was just taking a walk since it was her day off from working at the flower shop and there was no team training today. As she walked, she began to think, about how her training was going, what their next mission might be and how her friends are doing. She stopped that train of thought because she might start to think of something she regretted. Throughout the past month, Ino hasn't even thought of Sasuke like she used to because if she did, she would be reminded of what cause the argument she had with her closest friend. She tried to avoid thinking about team seven since it always went to Naruto. "*sigh* Why did I say all that? I haven't even seen him around to apologize and even if I find him…..I know he wont talk to me anymore. Why was I being so stupid!". When she finished, she looked up, to see Naruto, with Hinata a good distance away but she could recognize his blonde hair anywhere. She felt happy to see him but her happiness soon vanished when she saw him, grab Hinata's hand and walked into an alleyway in another direction. She reached out and wanted to call out to him but her voice wouldn't come out. She stood there arm stretched out for a few more moments. Dropping her arm she dropped her head, she knew about Naruto having a good sense of smell and he once told her that he found her once by smell, so there was no way that he didn't know she was close by. Her shoulders began to shake as she held back the hurt she felt. She wanted him to talk to her again, she wanted him to smile at her again, she wanted him to come by the shop again "...I want him back"

* * *

~Training ground seven~

Naruto and Hinata had arrived at the training ground and Hinata thought it was a miracle that she didn't faint from holding Naruto's hand the whole way. Naruto was so focused on getting to the training ground that he forgot to let go of her hand. Once they arrived he finally let go of her hand and took a deep breath, feeling better now that he was off the streets of Konoha, away from the hatred. Turning to Hinata he smiled at her, one that was a little bit more real "ok Hinata-chan, what do you want to work on? You wanna try that move of yours we worked on last time or do you wanna try something else?"

Hinata snapped out of her daze when he asked the question, looking to Naruto she shook her head. Taking a couple deep breaths, something Kurenai told her would help with her nervousness "no, I think we should work on the one y-y-you showed m-me….". She felt a sense of pride for not stuttering so much in her sentence

Naruto rubbed the back of his head , when he remembered how the last time he tried to do the move, it was a mess and if it wasn't for his accelerated healing he would be in a coma due to head trauma "well I haven't gotten any better since last time" he said as he rubbed the back of his head giving a dry chuckle

Hinata could see that he was feeling better than he did back at the ramen stand and wanted to keep this up so she said something that Naruto had told her before "well Naruto-kun, how will you ever improve if you don't keep trying"

Naruto looked back at her in a bit of shock. Not only did she say the same words he said to her before when they first trained but she said it without a single stutter. He got pumped after hearing what she said with new found determination he got ready. He knew he had to get stronger, for the people he cared about because something deep in his heart told him he needed to be strong enough to protect them

* * *

~that night, Naruto's apartment~

Naruto walked into his apartment tired from the training he had with Hinata. He felt a lot better when training with her and she always seemed to make his day a bit brighter. Walking in he immediately scrunched up his nose at the smell "what the hell?". Looking towards the kitchen he began looking for whatever food he left out that might be causing the smell. Not finding anything on the counter he looked towards his table but didn't see anything…...that is until he saw the flower he put in the center of the table…..it had wilted and died. Looking back into the kitchen he saw the flower he had there was also dead "...oh no". Running to his bedroom he saw that the flowers that were placed in different spots had also died as well as some of the plants. He looked up and prayed for any sort of miracle that the ones in his sleeping area were still alive. Jumping up he quickly released the rope, pulled the door down, released his **henge**and leapt into his sleeping area. It wasn't just the idea of letting his flowers and plants die, he felt that he still had a connection to Ino if he took care of them, that she was still part of his life even if indirectly from the flowers he got from her family shop but it was the same in his sleeping area. In seemed his flowers had taken up some sense of his life, at one time colorful and bright, now dim and dieing. He felt that no matter what he would always lose something he cherishes

Sitting on his haunches he held his head down, with his ears drooping and tails just laying on the ground. After a few minutes, he dropped to his bedroom and picking up a water pail with his tail he went to his kitchen sink, filled it with water and went to water all the dead flowers and plants, hoping he could bring them back and regain his connection to Ino 'I miss her'

* * *

~Meanwhile in Ino's room~

Ino held a purple water pail as she water the flowers she had on her window sill. Once she was finished she found herself looking at the purple tiger lily and the orange begonia as they were placed right next to each other. She gently ran her finger on the petals of the begonia as she had one thought 'I miss him'

* * *

End of chapter

Wasn't really feeling it for this chapter. It was just a small filler chapter

Team seven have gotten back to the leaf. Haku is now getting treatment, Sakura has chosen to keep her memory out of fearing Naruto. Fear can cause people to be irrational

For Ino, I had a saying in my head for her part "absence makes the heart grow fonder" but I also think on how they last met it would cause a lot of hurt as well. For Ino, she is starting to understand how important Naruto is to her. For Naruto he already sees Ino as important but he also thinks that Ino would be happy if she didn't see him but he doesn't know the hurt he is causing

Anyways next chapter will be the beginning of the chunin exams. Something I have been looking forward to

Please read and review


	22. Preparations for the Chunin exams

?: hey everyone Fanreader26 here or FR for short. I'm here to say to all of you readers thank you for reading my story and reviewing. I'm also here to tell you

*SMACK*

FR: ow! Who hit me!?

Naruto: I did

FR: Naruto? What are you doing here?

Naruto: getting some payback for doing all that stuff to me

FR: it's part of the story and I thought abo..

*smack*

FR: ow who did that!

Ino: we did

FR: oh hey Ino, Hinata whats up. Uh Ino what are you doing with that mallet

Ino: *smiles evilly* how many hits does it take to get to the center

*FR runs away*

Ino: I'm going to get you for putting me through all that turmoil! *runs after FR*

Hinata: um shouldn't we help him

Naruto: no. it's what he gets for making us go through all that

*in the distance* Ino: your only making it worse. I promise I won't hurt you

FR: so when should I tell her that she is chasing a clone

Nartuo:...just get on with the story

FR: well guys here you go

* * *

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

(author comment) - not a lot of them

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

Chapter 22: Preparations for the Chunin exams

It had been three weeks since team seven had returned to Konoha and things haven't been the same since then. Kakashi has been the same smut reading sensei but he now has someone else that he has to look after. Kakashi had been tasked into watching Haku for the time being and after he has been deemed trustworthy, Haku will take the title of chunin based on his skills and kekkei genkai. Hiruzen had chosen to keep the kekkei genkai a secret, to avoid the civilian council trying to use him for breeding.

Sakura had been spending her time more with Haku than with Naruto or Sasuke, as well as getting training in using senbons and physical training. Sakura had been pushing herself harder than ever to become a better kunoichi but she secretly wanted to be ready for any enemy she may face whether they be from enemy shinobi…...or a teammate. She had been scared to be anywhere near Naruto, for fear of him lashing out at her and doing what he did to Gato, to her. She also enjoyed spending time with Haku who told her stories of his travels and the sights he has seen.

Haku had enjoyed spending time with Sakura as well, seeing her as a bright, intelligent and sweet girl. He had told her what had happened to him when he was a child and how he had to kill his father in self defense, when he found out about his Kekkei Genkai. Sakura sat there and didn't interrupt him with questions which he was grateful for. Once he finished his story he asked her what life was like in Konoha. The two enjoyed each other's company and grew close quickly.

Naruto had been pushing himself harder than ever, with the help from not only Hinata but also from Kurama, who decided to teach him how to use some of his bijuu abilities. Kurama had taught him that now that he was a five-tailed fox much like himself, Naruto should be have a much easier time using fire based jutsu and with enough practice in chakra manipulation he would be able to release a stream of fire without the use of hand signs. Not only did Kurama teach him how to release a stream of fire from his mouth, he was also taught how to manipulate his tails to make them extend in length or increasing their strength so he could hit harder with them. Naruto had ask Kurama if he had any jutsu to teach but unfortunately he never paid attention on how ningin used jutsu. One thing that he could get Kurama to teach him was the **Bijuu-dama**, which he learned about from Hiruzen when he asked about the battle between his father and the fourth hokage (he still doesn't know about Minato) but Kurama immediately said "**NO**" and even with all the whining, pleading and bribing (not much to bribe with though) he couldn't get Kurama to budge. Safe to say with all the training he has been getting, he is now faster, stronger and tougher than before.

Sasuke had become more arrogant since he had unlocked his sharingan. He would activate it every time he would spar with Kakashi, Sakura or Naruto. He had attempted to copy their jutsu but when he fought Kakashi, he wouldn't get anything but visual recognition of Kakashi's fighting style. When he spared with Sakura he got nothing since she only had strength going for her and it was a standard fighting style which he could care less about. It was when he spared against Naruto that brought many more problems. The first time he spared with Naruto he had tried to copy the **Kage Bunshin** but due to his immature Sharingan he only got the hand sign and movement of chakra for it but not the amount of chakra required so when he tried to make ten clones at once he couldn't even make one and all he ended up doing was using every ounce of his chakra in a pointless endeavor causing him to collapse immediately from extreme chakra exhaustion. This caused him to remain in the hospital for a little over a week much to his ire.

Now both Naruto and Sasuke were facing off against each other in another spar.

Kakashi stood in between them as the got ready "now you two, try not to overdue it this time"

Naruto nodded his head as he got into the stance for his personal fighting style and subtly undid the **henge **on his nails, allowing his claws to be used

Sasuke gave his usually "Hm" and activated his sharingan, not even going into a fighting stance

Kakashi looked between the two, lifted his hand and dropped it as he said "Haijeme"

Naruto was the first to move. Running at a very long angle and both hands pulled back in claw strikes, he swiped his left claw at Sasuke's head aiming to finish quickly.

Sasuke was surprised at the speed that Naruto went. It was only thanks to his sharingan that he was able to react quick enough to bend back having the claw strike pass his head but he felt something sharp nick him above his eye. Noticing that Naruto had also passed him, he pulled himself up, spun to his left and he threw a right hook at the back of Naruto's head

On instinct Naruto shifted a bit to his left, having Sasuke's fist move past him, which he grabbed and pulled forward

Sasuke thought that Naruto was going to throw him over his shoulder and mentally prepared himself to flip in the air and launch his Katon jutsu but he was shocked when instead of being thrown he was pull into the back of Naruto who then threw his head back so it could meet Sasuke's nose making a loud *CRACK*

After Naruto had thrown his head back to hit Sasuke's face,he let go of Sasuke's arm, crouched lower, planted his hands on the ground, lifted his legs and kicked Sasuke in the stomach with both feet

Sasuke was launched a dozen yards away and rolled back to his feet as he held his stomach and nose. Glaring at Naruto he then felt that the nick he got earlier was starting to bleed a lot, which covered one of his eyes with blood forcing him to close it. Growling at what just happened he chose to copy the move Naruto used. Getting back on his feet he curled his hands into claw formations, crossed his arms in front of him and lowered himself. He had watched Naruto spar with Kakashi and used his sharingan to copy the style

Seeing this Naruto began to growl at Sasuke. 'He is copying my style! What gives him the right to use something that I made like he owns it?!'. Naruto took a deep breath and waited for Sasuke to attack.

Sasuke saw that Naruto didn't move and smirked "what's the matter dobe? Scared that I'm using your fighting style?"

Naruto just narrowed his eyes as he got into a stance. He spread his legs, lowering himself a bit, spread his arms to the side as he shifted his weight back and forth from each foot

Sasuke chose to do the same move that Naruto used at the beginning of the spar

Naruto noticed this and allowed his instincts to guide his movements. He saw Sasuke was going to strike with his right hand and already knew what to do. Shifting his weight to his left foot he waited until Sasuke was mid swing and once he was, Naruto tilted to his left out of the strike path. Naruto moved his left hand to flow with Sasuke's strike and once he grabbed Sasuke's arm he spun with the momentum of the strike and threw his elbow to the back of Sasuke's head

Sasuke was shocked when he saw Naruto spin out of the way. His shock was short lived as he felt a hard strike to the back of his head and was launched forward and he slid face first in the dirt.

* * *

~With Haku and Sakura~

While the fight was happening Sakura kept her eyes on Naruto. She once thought that his feral fighting style was cool but now she saw his fighting style as an animal attacking his prey and it caused her to shiver.

Haku saw the fear in Sakura's eyes and wondered why she was afraid of Naruto "Sakura-chan why do you fear Naruto-san?"

Sakura looked towards Haku, still fearful from taking her eyes off Naruto. Looking down in depression she spoke in a soft voice "I…...I can't tell you"

Haku was confused about this. 'Why can't she tell me? What are you hiding from me Sakura-chan?'. Sighing Haku looked towards the fight "I see no reason to fear your teammate". This caused Sakura to look up at Haku as he continued "Does Naruto-san seem like the kind of person to be afraid of? Because to me he seems like the person who would protect those precious to him. Even go through hell to make sure they are safe"

Sakura looked back to the fight to see Naruto elbow Sasuke in the back of the head "I don't think he sees me that way. He always seemed annoyed with me"

Haku chuckled at this "you'd be surprised. Back in Wave he told me that he does see you as a precious teammate and he would still aid you when you need it"

Sakura was shocked to hear this. After years of doing nothing but belittle him for everything he did, he would still help her. She then she thought of Sasuke and how they were towards each other "what about Sasuke-san?"

Haku's smile dropped at the question as he remembered what Naruto said to him about his male teammate, at how he's, in Naruto's own words "the glorified whiny prince of Konoha". Naruto had told Haku how every single villager seemed to kiss the ground the Uchiha walked on, how the girls all swooned and threw themselves at him but the Uchiha paid no mind to anything. The Uchiha would demand something and he would most likely get it, if it were in the villagers or even the councils power. Haku didn't like this kind of person, someone who can't appreciate the small things or the things that really mattered "Naruto had told me how he sees the Uchiha and although he said he would be reluctant to do so…..he would help him even if it made him angry"

Sakura looked from Haku back to the fight as she saw Sasuke try and get up from the ground. Although she felt a bit less fearful of Naruto she still felt wary of him

* * *

~back to the fight~

Sasuke had been trying to push himself off the ground but found that his right arm hurt every time he used it. Once back on his feet, he spit out a glob of blood as he was bleeding from his nose, the cut above his eye and a few more cuts around his right arm. looking at said arm Sasuke saw that it was limp and unmoving and when he did move it, a sharp pain shot up it. He dislocated not only his shoulder but his elbow as well. Gritting his teeth he turned and glared at the blonde with his one open eye. "What the hell did you do DOBE!?"

Before Naruto could say anything, Kakashi jumped in between "if your asking about your arm Sasuke-kun than I have to say that he didn't do that. You did that to yourself."

Sasuke looked furious at this "WHAT!?"

Kakashi sighed a bit in disappointment "Sasuke-kun, you copied the movements of a fighting style you cannot use"

"WHY NOT?!"

Kakashi turned to Naruto as he spoke to Sasuke "the fighting style you used was made by Naruto-kun and from what I can tell it requires an amazing amount of flexibility." Kakashi turned to Sasuke "Something you don't have. That strike you threw, used so much force that you yourself dislocated your shoulder and elbow. You most likely didn't notice because the shock of Naruto-kun dodging. Speaking of which" turning back to Naruto, he tilted his head "how did you know how to counter that way?"

Naruto smiled at the question "I made the style myself and had my clones use it against me. I came up with counters for most of my moves"

Kakashi nodded his head "well...this spar is over." he then turned back to Sasuke "we should get you to the hospital so you can get your injuries fixed because if I do it here, it will hurt more" as he made his way to Sasuke he looked up in time to see a hawk flying overhead 'so it's that time already huh?'. Placing his hand on Sasuke's good shoulder, they **Shunshined **away leaving the three on their own

Naruto looked at Haku and Sakura as he waved at them "well I'll see you guys later! Ramen is calling my name" and with that Naruto ran off

* * *

~2 hours later in the council room~

The hokage sat at his seat with the whole council present as they looked towards all the Jonin senseis including Kakashi who was reading his book as he ignored Guy. Taking puff from his pipe he started the meeting "well…..I am sure you are all aware as to why you are here" seeing that they all nodded their head he continued "well I would like to start with the civilian teams. Do any of you want to recommend your genin to take the chunin exams?"

None of the jonin senseis for the civilian teams stepped forward and Hiruzen could understand that they weren't ready for these exams.

Iruka, who was standing on the side was was smiling at how his civilian students were not being put in them

Puffing out a bit of smoke Hiruzen nodded his head "very well, none of the civilian genin will be participating. Now, onto the can heir teams. Any nominations from you four?"

Kakashi walked forward as he put his little orange book away, much to the ire of a few in the room "Team Seven is ready to be in the chunin exams"

This got the civilian council to all smile at this (gee I wonder why?)

Kurenai then stepped up next "I nominate Team eight to take part in the chunin exams"

Guy came up and gave his good guy pose "My genin are ready to spread their flames of youth"

Asuma stepped up last as he took a drag of his cigarette "Team Ten are set to join the chunin exams"

Iruka could not help but object to this "hold on a minute. Apart from Guy's team the rest are fresh out of the academy. They haven't even been genin a year yet! I know their skills, they are not ready for these exams. These exams will destroy them! How could you just put them in it so soon"

Hiruzen turned his head towards Iruka and understood that he was worried for his former student "Iruka-san…."

Before he continued Kakashi spoke up "sorry to say Iruka-san but you don't know their skills anymore. They have been training with us and have improved a lot since their time at the academy. Like your favorite blonde, he has improved leaps and bounds since the genin test"

Guy smiled wider as he held his fist to his chest "AH Naruto. His flames of youth burn so bright that he has earned my honorary training suit" he said as he pulled out a green spandex uniform similar to his own.

Iruka, Kakashi, Hiruzen, Tsume, and Inoichi turned green as they felt sick imagining Naruto in the green spandex while everyone else shivered at anyone wearing Guy's outfit

Hiruzen shook the thought out of his head hoping not to have nightmares of Naruto screaming "YOUTH" and got back to what they were discussing"Iruka-san I can vouch for what Kakashi-san has said. Your former students have all improved since their academy days and you should have faith in them"

Iruka still feared for his students but he knew what they said was true so he reluctantly stood back

Hiruzen then turned to the jonin senseis "very well. Teams seven through ten will participate. The exams begin in a month, be sure to let your genin team know and to give them the required forms. This meeting is adjourned. You are all dismissed"

* * *

~evening Hokage office~

Hiruzen was sitting at his desk looking over the list of participants, not only from konoha but also from the other villages. He had also thought about the invites he had sent out to the other villages, wondering if any of them will attend it. He doubted that the Raikage or the Tsuchikage would participate with the very fragile agreement they have. He had doubts about the Mizukage as he had heard that the civil war they were in had finally been ended and the new Mizukage might not have the time for such things. He wasn't sure about Oto since it was a fairly new small village and he has no real knowledge on them. Even though Oto sent a one team he had received nothing on their leaders participation. He looked at the many villages and thought about how much security they would need for the foreign dignitaries coming and prayed no information to leak out. This thought brought back an investigation that was still ongoing into his mind. Pressing his intercom to speak to his secretary "would you please send for Anko Mitarashi immediately. I must speak with her"

"Yes sir"

After twenty minutes of waiting, Anko walked into the office with a dango stick in her mouth "hey old man whatcha need?"

Hiruzen would have reprimanded Anko for how she addressed him but he knew it was one of the fruitless endeavors he had. Going through some hand signs he slammed his hand onto the wall and placed privacy seals on the room. He knew that his anbu were still present but he wanted them to hear the conversation they were about to have "Anko, do you recall the little bit of information you received from the traitor Mizuki?"

Anko's mood took a nosedive and immediately got serious when she heard the question "your talking about how he said that there was a spy in the village that works for that snake-teme"

"Yes, the investigation has brought up nothing and although this would have insinuated that there is no spy, this is Orochimaru so I don't want to take any chances. With many from other villages coming here for the chunin exams, it might be the perfect time to infiltrate the village so inform Ibiki to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. He is to tell only his most trusted members of his team"

Anko understood the seriousness of the situation and nodded her head "is there anyone else you wish for me to inform?"

Hiruzen was about to say no but another event came to mind "yes. I would like you to inform Naruto Uzumaki"

Anko was stunned at this "why?"

Hiruzen chuckled at this "he once found a mole that was hidden in my office and although the mole died on us, the very action of finding a mole when neither my anbu or I could not, makes me put a lot of faith in the boy. Don't give him the full details but tell him to report anything that he thinks needs my attention"

Anko couldn't help but feel some sense of pride for the gaki and smile at how much faith the hokage had for him "yes Hokage-sama" she said with a bow, showing her respect to him

* * *

~Kiri~

In the office of the Mizukage, we find a Mei Terumi

Mei was a tall, slender woman with fair skin. She had green eyes, and ankle-length, auburn hair styled into a herringbone pattern at the back, a top-knot tied with a dark blue band, and with four bangs at the front. Two of the bangs were short, with one covering her right eye, and two are long, crossing each other over her breasts, just below her chin.

She wore a long-sleeved, dark blue dress that falls just below the knees. It was closed at the front with a zipper, and kept open on the front-right side from the waist down. The dress only covered up to the upper part of her arms and the underside of her breasts. Underneath, she wore a mesh armour that covers slightly more of her upper body than her dress. She also wore a skirt in the same color as her dress and, underneath those, mesh leggings reaching down over her knees. Around her waist, she wears a belt with a pouch attached to the back on the left along with high-heeled sandals, shin-guards reaching up over her knees, dark blue nail polish on her fingers and toes, and purple lipstick

Mei was looking over an invitation she received to attend the Chunin exams in Konoha. "I won't have time to go with all the things that need to be done here. Pity I would have liked to have a discussion with their hokage". As she looked on at the invitation she took one more glance to the location 'hmm he might like the idea'. She then heard someone enter the office, and she glared at the man that entered "you should learn to knock"

"A waste of time doing something like that" the man said as he walked up to her

Mei sighed in exasperation at the bold rudeness of someone who helped end the civil war immensely "regardless, you have perfect timing. What would you say to visiting Konoha to watch the chunin exams?"

The man smirked as he pierced his sword, Kubikiribōchō into the ground "when do I leave?"

* * *

~Konoha 3 days later~

Naruto was walking down the street after he had eaten his new record of ramen bowls: 25 bowls. As he was walking he felt someone following behind him. Smiling at how easily it was to notice that he was being followed he took a couple of sniffs in the air to see who it was. 'Hehe they still have to work on it but at least it was better than the different colored cover sheet. I mean who uses a green camouflage sheet on a tan wooden fence!'. Turning around he had to stifle a laugh at seeing a box painted to look like a square rock "hey Konohamaru, you still gotta work on your stealth skills. Now why don't you three come out already"

The box began to wiggle "darn it boss! Why can't I ever get the drop on you!". After the box stopped squirming the top of the box exploded with smoke and coughing could be heard from inside the smoke

"Konohamaru *cough* I think we used *cough* too much smoke in this"

After the smoke began to clear up Naruto could see it was Konohamaru with a girl and another boy, both seemed to be the same age as him and all of them began to introduce themselves as they struck a pose

The girl had orange hair tied up, with red elastics, into two very large pigtails. She also has a perpetual blush. She wore a red tank-top over a pink t-shirt layered at the bottom; her pants were grey and she wore blue ninja sandals. "Im Moegi, the sassiest girl in the whole academy"

The boy had short brown hair and dark eyes. He had what looked like a perpetual drippy nose and circular glasses. He wore a simple blue shirt which zipped up the middle, a pair of brown pants and sandals "I'm Udon. I like math" (does he really say this in the anime?)

Not much had change from Konohamaru apart from him being taller and he lost the bald cap, showing his spiky brown hair "and Im Konohamaru and together…..we are"

"THE KONOHAMARU CORPS" they said in unison as they did a three man pose

Naruto looked at the spectacle with a straight face while in his head 'that…..needs some work'. Naruto shook his head as he looked at the three and smiled at how they all kept the pose for a few more seconds "so what's up guys? Haven't seen you in a while'

Konohamaru got out of his pose and started to stomp his foot in the ground with his arms raised "you barely hang out! Your always on missions or doing something that you never play Shinobi with us anymore!"

Naruto laughed at the younger boys tantrum but thought about it and realized that it was true, he has been training nonstop and hasn't played with these three since before the Wave mission "well I have been busy doing a lot of training but I'm not doing anything right now so why don't we do something right now?"

Moegi and Udon smiled at hearing Naruto saying he would play with them. Konohamaru smirked and pointed at Naruto "ok than you have to play shinobi with us!"

Naruto nodded his head and crossed his arms "ok then I will give you a fifteen second head start. Lets see how long you guys can keep away!...one"

With that the three screamed as they ran away. Naruto counted in his head till fifteen seconds passed. Once the time passed he began to jog slowly after the three kids. He enjoyed doing things like this, it was a nice way to relieve a bit of stress apart from the glares he got, he would just enjoy these small moments. He was brought out of his peaceful jog when he felt a massive amount of something dark. He would have avoided whatever was causing it but not only was it in the village it was in the direction he smelt Konohamaru and his friends were, so steeling his nerves he ran towards where he could smell Konohamaru. Turning at a corner into an alley he found Konohamaru being held up by the collar by a boy wearing a black full body catsuit, wearing paint on his face and carrying something wrapped up on his back

Udon and Moegi saw Naruto turn the corner and ran to hide behind him.

The catsuit boy turned his head and glared at Naruto "oh great another loser came to join the runt"

Behind him was a girl who had teal eyes and sandy blonde hair, which was gathered into four consecutive pigtails. Her outfit consisted of a single light purple-coloured, off-the-shoulders garment that extended to halfway down her thighs, with a scarlet sash tied around her waist. In addition to incorporating fishnet worn over her shoulders and legs, with it only going to her right calf while the left reached her thigh, she also wore her black Hitai-ate around her neck. "Kankuro you should stop before he gets here!"

Kankuro scoffed when he heard her "relax Temari. I'm just going to teach this little punk some manners" he said as he lifted his free hand to punch Konohamaru

Naruto could tell that the dark feeling he felt was nearby so he stayed on guard but he looked towards the now name Kankuro "hey! Put him down!"

Kankuro glanced at Naruto before looking back at the boy in his arms "just wait your turn! After this runt, you can be next"

Before Kankuro could throw the punch at Konohamaru, he blinked in surprise when the short brown haired boy he was holding up was replaced with the blonde he just saw. His shock was short as the blonde headbutted him hard causing him to let go of the blonde's shirt and hold his nose in pain

Tamari was wide eyed seeing what just happened. She looked towards where the blonde was standing and noticed that the brown haired kid was there now instead of the blonde 'how did he do that?'

Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi stood watching the confrontation between their boss and the unknown pair. As they were watching they didn't notice someone coming up behind them

"What's going on here?"

The three kids jumped a bit and turned to see who spoke. They noticed it was both Sakura and Haku.

Sakura and Haku had finished training, where Haku was teaching her how to use senbons. Afterwards they went out to get something to eat and as they were walking to the restaurant Sakura wanted to show Haku, they both noticed Naruto jogging down the street. They would have just thought it was nothing but Haku noticed that Naruto's happy mood turned grim and he began to run in a bit of panic so both Sakura and Haku followed him and came upon the scene.

Kankuro glared at the blonde and after he removed his hands from his nose, he reached to the thing wrapped up on his back. Pulling it off he brought it forward and slammed it in front of him.

Temari was stunned at how quickly Kankuro was going to use his puppets "do you plan on using crow?!"

Haku seeing the action subtly pulled out a set of Senbon in his hand to help out his friend if things get bad

Sakura was unsure about what to do and stood there watching what would happen

Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi were silently rooting for their boss to show these newcomers not to mess with him

Naruto wasn't paying much attention to the boy in front of him. When he arrived he had been trying to find where the dark feeling was coming from. Shifting his eyes left and right, he knew it was close, it got stronger when he arrived and didn't move. He subtly sniffed the air to see if he could find who was releasing it. He could smell Sakura, Haku, the three kids, the two in front of him, he even smelled Sasuke in the tree. It was when he smelt Sasuke that he thought it might have been him but as he focused he noticed that it was a foot away from him and then he caught the scent. 'It smells like sand…...and blood!'. Turning his head towards the tree, he panicked at how close the dark feeling was "Sasuke! Get down here!"

Everyone looked towards the tree Naruto was looking at to see Sasuke standing on a branch looking down at the group.

Sasuke was taken aback at not only the panic he could see from the blonde but also the fact that said blonde called him by his name. "What's got you so nervous dobe? And why should I listen to you anyway?"

Naruto just scowled at how oblivious he was at the danger "the guy hiding behind you has got me nervous you idiot!"

Sasuke was confused as he had not noticed anyone near him and turning around he didn't see anyone. He was about to call Naruto and idiot but he was stopped by a voice coming a bit lower from the direction he was looking

"Kankuro, Temari stop what you're doing now"

The voice was cold and emotionless. It sent shivers down Naruto's spine and he was on guard even more now that he knew where the feeling was coming from.

Sasuke was shock when he looked down at the person who was standing upside down on the branch on the other side of the tree. His eyes widened more when the person disappeared in a whirl of sand and reappeared in front of Kankuro and Temari

Temari and Kankuro became extremely nervous when they saw the person in front of them "Gaara!" they said in unison

Naruto looked over the newcomer. He wore a black bodysuit with an open neck, t-shirt-like sleeves, and almost full-length leggings. He wore a white cloth over his right shoulder and the left side of his hips. He had a wide leather band from his left shoulder to his right hip which carried a gourd on his back.

Sasuke jumped down to join his teammates and looked at the three unknowns. He stepped forward to confront them but stopped by a hand on his left shoulder. Turning his head to glare at the person he saw it was Naruto. He was about to say something but noticed that Naruto wasn't even looking at him he was looking passed him and sweating a bit.

The newcomer Gaara looked impassively at Kankuro "you are here to represent Suna, not to cause problems. Now be quiet…...or I'll kill you". Both Kankuro and Temari stiffened at this and kept quiet

Naruto felt his instincts were screaming at him, but he wasn't sure what they were telling him. It was either to attack the boy or run away as fast as possible. He jumped when he heard Rama talk to him

"**Kit. be careful around that one"**

'Rama-tou-chan? What's this feeling I get from this guy? And why do I need to be careful?'

"**The feeling you're getting is bloodlust. And you should be careful because he has the one tailed Shukaku sealed inside him"**

Naruto went wide eyed. The boy was like him, a jinchuuriki but the look in the boy's eyes show a lack of empathy or sympathy. He needed to end this encounter fast, he did not want to stay around this bloodlust.

Gaara turned to Naruto and walked up to his group "I apologize for the actions of my teammate. They will stay out of trouble from now on" he said the last part turning his head to look at them

Naruto could feel a subtle bit of KI hidden in all the bloodlust aimed towards the boys teammates "don't worry about it"

Gaara stared into Naruto's eyes before he spoke "my name is Gaara may I ask your name"

Naruto just wanted him to leave so he gave a response "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, the dark haired one here is Sasuke Uchiha the one in green is Haku Yuki and the girl is Sakura Haruno" he introduced the others to show that there are other shinobi here just in case a fight broke out here

Gaara nodded his head and turned to leave

But before he could leave Sakura spoke up "hey wait, you guys are from another village aren't you? What are you doing here in Konoha?"

Naruto panicked a bit more 'damn it Sakura! Let them leave! We don't want to mess with that guy!'

Temari looked at the pink haired girl and scoffed "we are from Suna and we are here for the chunin exams. If you don't know that, it can only mean that you aren't worthy of participating" she then turned to leave with her teammates

Before Sakura could ask more Haku placed a hand on her shoulder. Sakura looked at Haku who shook his head and turned to look at the back of Naruto. He noticed that Naruto was even more on edge with the red head around.

Sakura looked to where Haku was looking and saw Naruto staring intensely at the retreating forms of the Suna-nin and seeing how he was sweating made her nervous about them because if the one she was wary about was tense it could only mean that the one he was tense about was worse than him

Once the three were gone Naruto took a breath he didn't realize he was holding, he wasn't even sure how long he was holding it

Haku put away his senbons as he removed the hand he had on Sakura's shoulder

Sasuke shrugged off Naruto's hand that was still on his shoulder while he thought about what was said 'the chunin exams huh? Why am I not participating!'. He began to walk away to see if he could find Kakashi to know how to enter

Naruto looked towards the three kids, who were shocked to see the serious look Naruto had "sorry guys but we are going to have to play another time. Right now I need to see the hokage". Naruto didn't even wait for an answer, he just jumped away to head towards the hokage tower

Konohamaru could tell something happened that they didn't know about "wonder what boss wants to talk to ji-chan about"

Haku decided to relieve the tension with Sakura so he walked forward and turned toward her "so…...should we still get something to eat" he said with a smile while in his head 'I feel like something big is about to happen. I just hope it's not bad'

* * *

~Hokage tower~

Naruto had just finished explaining his interaction with the Suna Shinobi as well as what Gaara was

The Hokage had a serious look on his face as he thought about this. 'A jinchuuriki participating in the chunin exams isn't anything new but usually they only take part if it's in their own village. Why would Suna send their jinchuuriki here? Even if it's for the chunin exams, it is very risky to do so…...unless'. Shaking his head from these thoughts he leaned his head back to rest on his chair 'hmmm maybe I'm being paranoid, but it's better to be prepared'. Looking to Naruto he finally spoke "thank you Naruto-kun for letting me know about this and I will keep an eye on him"

Naruto nodded his head "ok Hokage-jiji, I didn't like the feeling I got from this guy so I felt like you should know"

Hiruzen was glad that the boy had enough thought to come to him about this and this brought something up in his head "very good Naruto-kun. One thing have you talked to Anko-san yet?" see the boy shake his head he figured better ask him now "Naruto-kun I would like to ask your help on something"

"Sure what is it?"

"Do you remember Mizuki" Hiruzen could see the scowl growing on the boys face "well a piece of info he said back then has yet to be resolved. It's about the spy in the village"

The scowl on Naruto's face turned to shock as he had all but forgotten the whole event

"I want you to keep your senses open for anything out of the usual. In fact, how good is your sense of smell?"

"Hana-oneechan once told me my sense of smell was just as good if not a bit better than her ninken" Naruto said with pride in his voice

Hiruzen chuckled at Naruto feeling pride in his nose "well do you know Anko's scent?"

"Yeah she smells like Dangos and Sake"

"Anything else?"

Scratching the side of his head he tilted it as he thought "well she also smells of snakes really. Probably because she uses snakes a lot"

"Good. the reason for the snake smell is because she has a contract with the snake summons. Although it is a sub-contract which allows her to summon snakes but she cannot call upon the higher summons. Now the reason I bring this up is because the upcoming chunin exams are allowing other villages to enter Konoha and I fear someone we should be wary of could use this opportunity to infiltrate us. I ask of you to keep your nose out for anyone that smells like snakes that ISN'T Anko-san and to report it to either Anko-san, Kakashi-san or Ibiki-san"

Naruto thought about the last one for a second before he bonked his fist into his other hand in an "ah ha" moment "oh you mean Grumpy scarface"

Hiruzen held in a laugh at the nickname but quirked an eyebrow in confusion about the name

"I met him with Anko-neechan once when I was younger and he always looks grumpy. I called him that because I thought the face he made was funny so it stuck"

Calming his inner laughing Hiruzen cleared his throat "very well. Also, Kakashi-san has nominated you to the chunin exams, so your team will be participating in them and I want you to keep up your search while there as well"

"Really? YEAH" Naruto said as he jumped in the air pumping his fist. Once he calmed down a bit he looked towards the hokage and got serious again "I will keep my senses out for what you asked for"

Hiruzen nodded his head "now it isn't certain that anything will happen but I want to be sure, and after you caught that rouge Anbu in my office that one time, I am putting my faith in you"

Naruto smiled at this "thanks Jiji"

"Your welcome Naruto-kun also keep your nomination for the exams from your team, Kakashi-san will tell your team himself. Don't forget people from other villages are coming here so be alert"

"Yes sir Hokage-jiji" Naruto said with a salute

* * *

~hidden location~

Danzo stood in the center of a wide circular room looking towards a tunnel, as if he was waiting for someone. After a few minutes he saw someone coming out of the shadows towards him. The person was wearing a cloak that covered everything about the person. Once the person had made it in front of Danzo, the man spoke "well Danzo-sama, to what do I owe this invitation?"

Danzo analyzed the man in front of him but he wanted to get his business taken care of "I will be quick about this. I am somewhat aware of your masters plans for the chunin exams and I would like to make a proposition to him"

"Oh? And what would this proposition be, and what would we get out of this?"

"I can offer a lax in security and my agents will not interfere with it.I can even offer one of my root agents for that jutsu you plan on using"

"How do you know about all this anyway? More importantly the jutsu he plans on using"

Danzo smirked a bit knowing that the conversation is going how he planned "I have had dealings with him many times in the past and I figured he would be using it. Most likely for not only a morale drop in the villages shinobi but also to have a powerful fighting force in his control"

"And what would you get out of this?"

"That does not concern you. So are you ready to listen to my proposition"

The cloaked man smiled as a small sheen passed by a pair of glasses

* * *

~with Haku~

After he had lunch with Sakura, Haku decided to explore more of the village. He still didn't know everything about his new home so he wanted to familiarize himself with it.

Ash he was walking through the streets, he noticed the different people looking around as well like they were tourists on vacation. 'They must be from another village. I wonder if there are people from Kiri?'. So deep in his thoughts that he let his guard down and didn't notice someone behind him

"I thought I taught you to never let your guard down. Looks like Konoha really has made you soft"

Haku recognized that voice. He used to hear it on a daily basis. Turning around he came face to face with someone he didn't expect to see so soon

"Zabuza-sama!"

* * *

~3 weeks later~

It had been about three weeks since Naruto met with Hiruzen. Not much has changed with the team except Haku seemed to be in a much better mood but wouldn't tell any of them and only said they will find out later. Naruto had been preparing himself for the chunin exams and even if his team didn't know about it just yet he felt he needed to improve with a different type of training. Every night he had been training with Kurama to improve his resistance to KI and the feeling of bloodlust. The first night was an extremely unpleasant experience for Naruto

* * *

_Flashback_

_Naruto sat in front of Kurama and waited for him to start_

"_**Kit are you sure you want to do this? Your not going to like it"**_

"_How many times are you going to say that to me? First it was when you told me the truth about what happened on my birthday, second was when you told me about shifting back and forth from my human form and my fox form, still wish I could just stay a fox. It's more comfortable."_

_Kurama smiled when he heard what his kit said, happy to hear that he prefers his fox form over his human form_

"_And the third time is now. I'm just going to deal with this anyway so better from you who I know won't hurt me"_

_Kurama took a deep breath (seriously they don't need to breath…...or do they?) _"_**ok kit but fair warning you might get visions of things that aren't real. Remember that and try to get through it. We will start will your KI resistance. Ready?" **_

_Naruto gulped a bit as he readied himself. Sitting up straighter on his haunches he nodded his head_

_Kurama then released a massive amount of KI towards his kit _'_**good luck kit'**_

_Naruto went stiff and his eyes widened in fear as he saw visions of his own death. This brought up a small subconscious fear of dying as he had died before and it left its mark on his soul. _(I'll leave this to your imagination cause when I wrote something for this, I got really bummed out)

_After a few minutes of Naruto's visions, Kurama let up the Ki to give Naruto a breather._

_Naruto felt numb like the only thing that was left of him was his sight. Slowly lifting his head and looking into the concerned eyes of Kurama, he slowly walked to him and laid on top of Kurama's paw_

_Flashback end_

* * *

Naruto had gotten over that first experience and pushed forward nonstop. It had taken over a week of nightly training but he had gained a resistance to a good level of KI. He even learned how to unleash it as well but only a small amount so it was useless.

Right now he was with his team on a small bridge in the village waiting for their sensei to arrive.

Sasuke was leaning back against the railing with his eyes closed and arms crossed. Sakura was on the same railing a bit away from Sasuke, leaning on her arms as she looked down at the water under the bridge. Naruto was on the other side of the bridge, laying on top of the adjacent railing with his hands behind his head as he looked at the sky, using a bit of chakra control to stay on the rail.

"That cloud looks like Kakashi"

Both Sasuke and Sakura look at Naruto with a raised eyebrow at the random comment. Both out of curiosity look up at the single cloud in the sky. Sasuke squinted his eyes and turned his head but he couldn't see what the hell Naruto was seeing 'che Dobe'

Sakura looked at the cloud and also tilted her head trying to find how it looked like their sensei. After a few seconds of trying she gave up and gave her opinion of the cloud "Naruto that cloud looks like a turtle"

Naruto just nodded as he continued to look at the sky "exactly"

It took Sasuke and Sakura a second to realize what he meant and only Sakura thought it was a little funny as she laughed a bit, while Sasuke rolled his eyes and went back to brooding

Naruto was surprised about his Sensei going back to his lateness, especially after his last prank on the one eyed jonin, which had to do with Guy ripping out the pages of his favorite book and saying how un-youthful it was to read it and that if he was late again he would find his collection and make sure that Kakashi remains youthful. Needless to say Kakashi had been on time most of the time afterwards. He would think of a prank to get his sensei back to being on time but Naruto didn't have time for it, since he had been more on guard while he was on the streets, seeing so many new faces that didn't glare at him, spit at him or even whisper about him, it all made him more unnerved since it was new to him. Sure in wave no one did it either but the atmosphere was oppressive and the people were close to feeling like he did when he was younger. He was brought out of his musing when he smelt Kakashi pop up in a **shunshin **with his usual "Yo"

Sakura got off the rail and turned to glare at Kakashi "YOUR LATE"

"Aaahhhh my ears!" Naruto was unprepared for the screeching yell since it had been awhile since she did it and it forced him to cover his ears in pain which caused him to lose focus on the chakra that kept him on the rail and he fell into the water below

Everyone sweatdropped at what happened to Naruto while Sakura looked sheepish at causing it

When Naruto hit the water he lost his focus so much that his **henge **was undone causing him to panic a bit before he re-applied it. After he surfaced, he swam to the shore and walked back onto the bridge 'great now my fur is all wet. I hate it when my fur is wet! Unless it's for a bath or Hana-oneechan's pet service. And my tails feel heavy now! Damn banshee shriek'. Once he made it back to his team he was still dripping wet and he was trying to wring out his sash while he glared at Sakura

Sheepishly Sakura said "sorry"

Kakashi cleared his throat to get his team's attention "well everyone I have something for all of you". Getting everyone's attention he pulled out three slips of paper "I'm sure you all know about the chunin exams" he said as he eyed Sasuke who scoffed. Sasuke had come to him demanding the right to participate in the exams and after a bout of elites and uchiha Kakashi told him he would participate only if he deems the team ready and then he **shunshined **away. "Well I recommended you all to participate them" he then handed the slips of paper to each of them "if you sign those and turn them into the academy by the deadline you will have the right to take part in the exams. Good luck, Ja ne" and with that he poofed away

Each of the genin had there own thoughts on taking part

Naruto had already known they were taking part so his excitement was dulled a bit but he still had a big grin on his face 'alright! This is going to be fun!'

Sakura was unsure of herself about taking part 'am I ready to be in them. I don't know if I can do this'

Sasuke smirked at the sheet 'now I can show everyone the might of the Uchiha! One step closer to him'

As Naruto was looking at the sheet he saw that the exams start "looks like they start a week from tomorrow, but where's the deadline for turning this in?"

At hearing this Sakura looked at the sheet and her eyes became wide as dinner plates when she saw the deadline "the deadline ends in an hour!"

The other two looked at the deadline and both saw she was right. Glancing at each other they all ran to the academy with the same thought in mind 'DAMN KAKASHI!'

* * *

~Day of the exam~

Naruto stood at the academy gates and he felt numb. Not from nerves but from shifting back into his human form. It wasn't even his decision this time. It was the Hokage that asked him to do it this time

_Flashback_

"_You want me to WHAT?!"_

_Hiruzen rubbed the inside of his ear from the shout Naruto gave. Finally getting his ears to stop ringing he looked towards Naruto "I want you to change into your human form for the exams"_

_Naruto stared dumbfounded at what the old man said. He was so shocked that he accidentally undid his __**henge**__._

_Hiruzen was amused at the state Naruto was in. Naruto's ears were shot up while all his tails were stiff in the air and he gaped at him. He was so stiff that anyone would think it was a well done statue. Hiruzen pulled out a big portable camera he kept in his desk and took a quick picture of Naruto 'how could I not take a picture of the few times Naruto is shocked this much'_

_After a few moments Naruto began to pace back and forth yipping and barking randomly which cause Hiruzen to smile more. 'He must not realize that he is ranting as a fox'_

_Naruto had so many thoughts going through his head 'all other times I have to convince them to let me do it but now he is asking me to do it! What the hell! Is this really Hokage-jiji' *sniff sniff* 'yeah it's him, but why is he asking me to do this? Are the exams that tough that I might drop my __**henge'**_

_Hiruzen cleared his throat to get Naruto to stop pacing "the reason I am asking you to do it for the exams is because there is a portion that could cause your __**henge **__to be released and with all the people from other villages in attendance it is extremely risky with just your __**henge**__. Now I have a possible solution to this problem and it has to do with one of my students. I plan on requesting information on it but it will have to wait for after the chunin exams. The person has a way of living under the radar…..somewhat…. So it will take time to get into contact"_

_Naruto was happy at hearing another solution to his shifting but also a little disappointed he had to wait for it but he knew he could do it. He barked at Hiruzen in agreement. He then noticed that Hiruzen was smirking at him. After a few seconds of asking what he was smirking at he looked down and noticed that he was in his fox form. Reapplying his __**henge **__he sheepishly gave and "oops". Coughing in his fist he gave his answer again "ok Hokage-jiji. I will shift into human form the night before the exams. But you better tell me that solution when you get it. I hate doing it so much"_

"_Of course Naruto-kun"_

_Flashback end_

* * *

After a few minutes of waiting he caught the scent of his two teammates and looked up to see them walk up to him. "About time you guys got here"

Sasuke scoffed at this and walked towards the academy "move it Dobe. I'm not going to wait for you to catch up"

Naruto followed Sasuke toward the academy with his hands in his jacket pocket

Sakura stared at the retreating forms of her teammates 'am I ready to do this, to test to be a chunin?'

"Hey Sakura-san, you coming?!"

Sakura looked up to see it was Naruto who call him, a part of her felt a bit better at the enthusiasm he was showing and she began to run to catch up with the two

* * *

~inside the academy~

After team seven entered the academy they were told by one of the instructors that they needed to head to room 303. Making their way up the stairs they noticed a group gathered around one of the rooms

"Hey come on let us in man!"

"Yeah! You can't just stand here and tell us that we aren't allowed in!"

"Move it you punks!"

"How do you expect us to become chunin if you block us"

Team Seven made their way closer to the group and all three noticed something was off

Sakura felt that something was off at the whole thing. She felt like a major piece of information was bouncing around her head and she couldn't see what it was

Sasuke was thinking about the whole thing and could feel the air around the room door shift a bit

Naruto looked from the group in front of them to the stairs behind him and then to the group again 'wait didn't we just go up one flight of stairs? So this should be the second floor' looking at the door, he noticed that it didn't say 303 it said 203 'this isn't even the right floor or the right room so why is everyone here?'

Sakura finally realized what was going on when she saw the 203 waver a bit. She gently spoke to her teammates "genjutsu"

Sasuke nodded his head 'these guys are pathetic

Naruto on the other hand felt like he got a revelation on why everyone was gathered here 'oooooooohhhhhh' his thoughts were broken when he heard someone in the gathered group talk

"Hey come on! we need to take part in the chunin exams"

Naruto knew that voice and it made him sweat a bit. He then looked towards the person who was talking and he was right, it was Tenten. He looked beyond the group and saw the flight of stairs that led to the third floor. Ignoring what his team was doing, he crouched down and tried to sneak passed. He had made it a bit passed the group when a pair of kunai flew right by his nose

"Oh hey Naruto. What are you doing?" spoke Tenten in a sweet voice

Naruto mechanically turned his head to see Tenten smiling at him with a twitching eyebrow. "Oh hey Tenten-chan. Good to see you. I was just on my way to….." Naruto moved forward a bit but he was stopped when Tenten threw three kunai into his sash to pin it to the ground

Tenten took one step forward still with a smile on her face "oh what's the rush? I haven't seen you in awhile and there is something I wanted to talk to you about ..." she said as she pulled out three more kunai

Naruto, in his crouched position lifted his leg and put all his strength into kicking the kunai out of the ground and although he didn't like the new holes in his sash it wasn't the most important. He ran with his arms in the air and screamed

"GET BACK HERE YOU BASTARD" Tenten yelled as she chased after Naruto throwing kunai at him

Lee gained waterfall tears as he saw this 'Naruto-san and Tenten-chan are at the pinnacle of their youth'

Neji scowled at the hallway where the two ran off to. Turning his head he saw Lee try to flirt with Sakura who turned him down immediately and the girl ran down the hall towards the stairwell. Deciding that this farce was now pointless he walked towards the stairs as well, looking back to see Lee going off in another direction with the dark haired boy. Neji noticed the symbol on the back of the boy's shirt 'so that's Sasuke Uchiha. Fate shines on you. Lets see if your fate leads you to me'

* * *

~with Naruto and Tenten~

Naruto was running everywhere in the academy while dodging kunais, knives, swords, axes and a sink 'WHERE THE HELL DID SHE GET A SINK?!'. He then felt something bounce on his head hard. Still running, he caught what hit him and saw it was a doorknob. Looking back he saw that she was now throwing random items "WHERE ARE YOU GETTING THESE THINGS?!"

"Get back here and take your punishment like a man"

Doing a hand sign out of desperation, "**Oiroke no Jutsu**!"

Tenten was still chasing him when all of a sudden a poof of smoke surrounded him. Getting ready for anything she pulled out a kitchen knife, ready to throw when….

"You wouldn't say that to a girl would you?" Naruto turned into Naruko as he dubbed this form, still running and naked

Tenten gained a tick mark and threw more items and at a faster rate "WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT WILL STOP ME!"

*poof* "I didn't! but I was hoping it would shock you enough for me to get away! AAAAAAHHHHH"

And Tenten kept chasing him with righteous womanly fury

* * *

End chapter

The top part was some of the crew getting back at me for…..you know, for the previous chapters and for me to have a little more fun

I was looking forward to getting the chunin exams started and at first the original draft for this chapter was maybe half of this but I felt like I needed to hit a bunch of markers I set up in previous chapters. Also I really wanted to get Tenten back in

Next chapter is when we get to the real start of the chunin exams. Look forward to how Naruto gets through it

Also I still need a name for Naruto's fighting style. If I can get at least three I'll set up a pol for you guys to vote the name (gotta learn how to do the poll thing anyway)

Also I plan on going back to previous chapters and fixing up some errors and putting in the torture scene that I actually removed from an early chapter

Please read and review


	23. trouble in the exam room

FR: ow

Naruto: hey FR whats wrong?

FR: Ino found out about the clone she was chasing and got me when I was eating dinner and finally got me

Sakura: well it's what you get for putting her through all this heartbreak

FR: hey it came out this way

Naruto: oh so you decided to have Hinata and Ino go through all that

FR: …...kinda

Sasuke: why did you have to make me so...so ….this!

FR: because your starting life made it easier to make you this way

Naruto: I get the feeling that you will be putting us through something else

FR:...

Naruto: damn you

FR: anyway everyone take your places. Story is about to start

Ino: FANREADER!

FR: well everyone here's the story *runs away*

* * *

**Review responses**

SkylerHollow: glad you enjoyed it. I felt like it wouldn't be Naruto unless he did something mischievous and it was fun to make him do it

Bloody dragon fang: I seem to do that a lot to him in this fic

thor94: sorry if you didn't like Sakura keeping her memories for such a reason, anyone else would purge it immediately but I wanted her to be afraid of Naruto and couldt think of a more plausible reason that fits with her. And as for your other concern it will happen soon (sorta) and I have a trigger to do it so I hope this alleviates your concerns but it won't happen at the time you want it.

* * *

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

(author comment) - not a lot of them

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

Few things before we start. First there will be numbers here put into specific parts, if you guys don't like it then let me know and I will fix it. Second there is a mindscape scene her (spoiler alert) and to help you with the scene, the trees are massive, far bigger than Kurama, to make him look like a normal fox in the forest and Naruto would be a bug (to scale) more or less

Also most of what happens will be canon and I may have skipped them in order to show what was happening in other points of view

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the dvds and blu rays

* * *

Chapter 23: trouble in the exam room

Sakura was standing outside of room 303 with Kakashi who was reading his little orange book. Kakashi was a little stunned at seeing only Sakura walk up without her teammates but she told him that they were both here, just doing other things, though she didn't really know what Sasuke was doing. After waiting a few minutes, both Kakashi and Sakura saw Sasuke walking towards them, but had bruises on his body. Kakashi looked up from his book with a raised eyebrow "what happened to you?"

Sasuke just huffed and looked at the two "what are you two waiting for?"

Kakashi went back to reading his book "we were waiting for you and Naruto-kun but now we just wait for him"

* * *

~with Naruto~

Naruto sat in the boys bathroom, trying to catch his breath after finally getting away from Tenten "If I knew pranking the Hyuga clan would've brought me this kind of trouble…...I would have kept away from Tenten longer". He focused on his hearing to see if Tenten was still nearby, he would have used his nose but….he was in a bathroom. He could hear grumbling outside the door to the bathroom and he breathed a sigh of relief when the grumbling was getting farther away. "Finally! Now I just got to get to the room" he was about to walk out of the bathroom when he thought of a faster way to get there. Allowing his emotion sensing tell him where everyone was, he was hit by multiple waves of nervousness, greed, panic but the ones that hit him most were the bloodlust he felt from Gaara and KI coming from two other individuals. He could feel smaller bits of it from other people but these two had massive amounts of it. 'May~be it's a bad idea to use the **Kiwarami **on any of them. Besides it would be a waste of chakra'. Naruto then decided to just run to the room and hope Tenten wasn't waiting for him

* * *

~back with the rest of team 7~

Sasuke was becoming impatient waiting for Naruto and was about to just enter the room but was stopped when he heard Kakashi speak

"Ah Naruto-kun! You made it" Kakashi said in a dull tone while steal reading his book

Sasuke and Sakura both looked down the hall to see Naruto running towards them.

Once he got in front of them he rubbed the back of his head "heh heh sorry, Tenten-chan wouldn't stop chasing me. Uh...she didn't get here already right?"

Sakura was the one to respond to his question "if you are talking about the brown haired girl with the twin buns, than yeah. She entered not long ago. Why?"

"Benefit to my health"

Sakura would have asked for more details but she noticed something about Naruto "hey Naruto-san, you have a kunai in your jacket….."

Naruto lifted his right arm to look at the base of his jacket to see a kunai halfway through. "Oh so that's what's been scratching me". He said as he pulled it out of his jacket

Kakashi,Sasuke and Sakura sweatdropped at how he acted like it was a simple thing

Kakashi put away his book before he cleared his throat "well it's good to see all three of you here. It was a bit shocking to see Sakura-chan arrive alone, but from the way you two came in, means you had a bit of an extra obstacle to deal with."

Naruto sheepishly rubbed his head while Sasuke just scowled

"Well before you enter, I just want to tell you three good luck and I'm counting on you. So get in there and show them what you've got"

All three of them nodded their heads with looks of determination and walked into the room. Kakashi looked at the door before he walked away

* * *

~inside the room~

The minute they walked into the room everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to them. They could feel the KI aimed at them from all the foreign shinobi and it unnerved Sakura and Sasuke a bit

Naruto could feel it but after his training with Kurama he thought that this amount wasn't much. Kurama felt the KI aimed at his kit so he decided to have Naruto respond

"**Hey kit. Give them a bit of a taste of the KI that you learned to use"**

'Rama-tou-sama? You remember that when I used it, it didn't do anything but if you say I should than ok'

"**Just remember to aim it before you use it"**

Naruto then unleashed a bit of his own KI towards the foreign shinobi and was shocked to see most of them sweat. He could feel the panic and fear that was now directed at him 'why are they so afraid now? I only used a bit…..and even the max I can used doesn't do anything' after he finished his though he could hear Kurama laughing hard 'hey what's so funny?!'

"**Kit the reason that you think your Ki doesn't do anything is because the only one you used it on was me"**

Naruto thought about what Kurama just said and the dots started to connect '...so...wait does that mean….?'

"**To someone like me, the amount you unleash would do nothing but to the ningin, you gave enough to make even that kiri swordsman you met in wave to shiver in fear"**

Naruto now had a dumbfounded look on his face 'why didn't you tell me?!'

"**Because this wouldn't have happened and I wouldn't get this kind of entertainment if I did"**

'TOU-CHAN!'

"**Bwahahahahaha"**

Naruto chose to not let his team know that he caused everyone to shake in fear. After everyone turned back to what they were doing albeit a little more nervously, team seven heard a familiar voice

"Troublesome, so you guys are here too" Team seven turned to see it was team ten, walking towards them

Naruto noticed that they were not shaking or nervous 'good thing they didn't get hit by my KI'. his eyes went to Ino who was looking at Sakura before her eyes shifted to him but he moved his head to avoid eye contact

Team ten now stood in front of team seven and Ino kept her sight on Sakura at the moment. 'This could be my chance to apologize to Naruto-kun'. When she glanced at Naruto, she noticed that he turned his head so he wouldn't look at her and she felt her heart hurt '...Naruto-kun' she thought sadly

Naruto could feel the sadness and regret coming off Ino but kept his gaze on Shikamaru and it hurt him not to say anything to her 'Ino-chan'

Choji was munching on a bag of chips as he started talking "so I heard that *munch* a lot of us *munch* from our class *munch munch* are in these exams"

Shikamaru sighed at how his friend spoke to team seven "Choji, you heard it wrong, the guy said that only a few of us are entering. The rookies of this year they called us"

"I think it would sound better if they called us the 'Rookie Nine' since it's just the three teams"

Team Seven and Ten looked over to see that it was Kiba who spoke with the rest of Team eight behind him

Naruto smiled as Kiba walked up to him. Both stared at each other before fist bumping "good to see you guys again. It's been a while"

Kiba gave a feral grin "for me and Shino maybe but I hear that you've been training with Hinata. Let's hope she helped you out of being the dead last" he said with a chuckle as Akamaru popped his head out of his jacket giving an agree *arf*. 'she would always talk about how you helped her train but she won't tell us with what' Kiba thought as he patted Akamaru's head

Hinata's face turned completely red after Kiba said that as she tried to bury herself in her coat "K-kiba….!"

Naruto chuckled a bit at seeing Hinata trying to be a turtle "so the 'Rookie Nine' huh? I like it but it makes us sound like we belong in a TV show"

Kiba felt a tick grow on his head "hey I thought the name was cool! Don't go making it sound stupid!"

"Hey I was only saying!…." Naruto would have continued but he sensed some very dark negative emotions coming their way

"You guys should really keep it down. You're causing a scene"

The Rookie Nine looked back to see a silver haired man with glasses walking up to them. Naruto was immediately on edge as this guy approached but once he was close enough, Kiba asked what everyone wanted to know "hey who are you?"

The man adjusted his glasses as he introduced himself, "My name is Kabuto Yakushi and you guys must be the rookies for this years chunin exams"

Naruto didn't like the feel of this guy. He could tell that the calm pleasant demeanor was a lie. Naruto flared his nose and the guys scent hit him 'he smells like snakes! And the feeling I'm getting from him: envy, anger, and…. Rama-tou-chan? Whats that last one?'

"**Hmm malice. You felt it before but in very small doses. This guy also seems a lot stronger than most here. Be careful around this guy kit…..and it seems there is another one, much stronger. Watch your back"**

'Right tou-chan!'

Naruto got out of his internal conversation in time to hear Kabuto speak about cards

"...have someone you want to know about, then these can help you out. I even have info on you guys. So any takers"

Sasuke stepped forward "I want to know about Gaara from Suna, Rock Lee of Konoha and….." turning his head towards Naruto "Naruto Uzumaki of Konoha"

Most of the group looked concerned, wondering why Sasuke would want info on one of his teammates

Naruto already knew that Sasuke would ask something like this. He would let it go and just have the info given but he wanted to mess with him as well so he stepped forward too "and show me the Tem...Sasuke Uchiha"

Kiba was holding his stomach, trying to hold in his laughter at Naruto almost calling Sasuke, Teme like usual "dude *chuckle* you don't *chuckle* even call him by name *laughter*"

Sasuke glared at Naruto but it wasn't clear on whether it was because of the teme comment or that Naruto was trying to one up him

Kabuto adjusted his glasses and knelt down, while using his hand to hide the smirk he had "aw you know their names. That's no fun". He then shuffled the deck of cards in his hands before using his right to swipe four cards out "here they are"

The rookies gathered around Kabuto as he placed one of the cards on the ground and placing his index finger in the center of it. Confused by this Choji spoke up "hey what are you doing?"

"I'm using my chakra to reveal the secrets of the card" (clow card ...sorry couldn't help myself). "Let's start with Gaara". Information appeared on the blank card as well as a picture of Gaara "lets see: Gaara no Sabaku or Gaara of the Desert. Same age as you guys and he hails from Suna along with his teammates Kankuro and Temari, who happen to be his brother and sister respectively. His skills aren't on record. He has done 0 D-ranks, 24 C-ranks 10 B-ranks and wow…..3 A-ranks. It also says that he has done all of these missions without a scratch"

Everyone was shocked and wide eyed when they heard this. Shikamaru couldn't grasp the idea "he's done THREE A-ranks without so much as a scratch on him!"

Naruto was surprised that someone that was like him did all this without a scratch. Made him think about his own level 'how strong is he!?'

Kabuto put away Gaara's card and pulled out another one, doing the same thing to reveal its secrets "now for Rock Lee. he hails from Konoha. He is a year older than you. His Ninjutsu and genjutsu are non-existent but his Taijutsu is at a level that would give Jonin a work out. His teammates are Tenten and Neji Hyuga. For missions he's done….."

While Kabuto was talking about the team's mission list, Hinata tuned out what was being said as she looked down with apprehension.

Naruto felt the increasing levels of doubt and fear coming from the girl and moved to stand at her side. He placed a hand on her shoulder and as she looked back at him he gave her a reassuring smile that told her not to worry about it. He turned back to Kabuto after he finished the mission list and pulled out another card

"Now for Sasuke"

Naruto could feel an increase of greed coming from not only Kabuto but from somewhere else in the room. He would have passed it off but it was too well timed with Kabuto's increase and the amount coming from the other person increased many times more than Kabuto. He wanted to turn his head and find the person but his gut was telling him not to move. He chose to just look at Kabuto as the details were spoken

"Sasuke Uchiha, obviously from Konoha, his teammates are Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno and team sensei is Kakashi Hatake. He is adept at Taijutsu, intermediate at ninjutsu and average at genjutsu. He is the last loyal Uchiha of Konoha with his brother Itachi being a missing-nin. He has unlocked his Sharingan although it is incomplete right now. He has done 47 D-ranks, 3 C-ranks, 0 B-ranks and a C-rank turning A-rank. Impressive"

Team ten turned turned to Sasuke and Sakura while Team eight turned to Naruto. Kiba nearly shouted at Naruto "dude when did you guys do an A-rank mission?!"

Sasuke smirked at the attention, Sakura shuffled on her feet and Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly "it just kinda happened"

Kiba pointed at Naruto and gave a demand "you gotta tell us the details later"

Naruto just nodded his head as Kabuto shifted his glasses and put Sasuke's card in his pocket and put down the last card "well here's the last one. Naruto Uzumaki, he is on the same team as Sasuke, he is considered the deadlast of his class. His taijutsu is average at best, his ninjutsu is basic and has no talent for genjutsu. For his mission list it's….oh this is interesting"

Sasuke was getting furious as the info was given to him. All of it was supporting his thoughts on Naruto, he was a nobody but it was the last thing Kabuto said that got his attention "what's so interesting!?"

"Most of the mission list is the same as Sasuke but it says here that he has TWO A-rank missions on his record"

Sasuke was seeing red 'how does he have another A rank mission on his record and I don't!? What the hell did he do to get that!?"

Kiba bolted to stand in front of Naruto and grabbed him by the collar and shook him "dude forget what I said earlier! You gotta tell me what the A-rank missions were now!"

Naruto would have said something but he couldn't stop his head from getting dizzy "Ki~i~i~ba~a~a~a! Ple~e~e~ease Ssssto~o~o~p"

Hinata placed her hand on Kiba getting him to stop "um Kiba I um think you should let Naruto-kun go now"

Kiba looked to Hinata and then back to Naruto who was now limp in his arms. "Oops" Kiba said as he let go and Naruto fell unconsciously to the ground in a heap

"Naruto-kun!" yelled both Ino and Hinata as they immediately went to his side to check on him.

Kiba looked down at Naruto with a wince as Akamaru popped up on top of his head giving a small whine "yeah Akamaru. I think I overdid it….."

As Ino and Hinata were checking on Naruto, a group of Oto-nin came up and attacked Kabuto. As one threw a punch that Kabuto dodged, Naruto bolted awake holding his ears in pain "argh grr, what the hell!"

Kiba noticed that not only Naruto but Akamaru as well were holding their ears in pain

As Naruto was trying to get the ringing in his ears to stop, he noticed everyone looking towards the front of the class. He saw that it was Ibiki, who seemed to be talking to the group of Oto-nin not far from him but he couldn't hear what was being said. Seeing an opportunity to mess with the man he waved his hand in the air and said "Hey Grumpy Scarface! How you been!".

Ibiki knew that voice, he had to deal with that kid several times when Anko brought him to his department like it was bring your sibling to work day. Looking towards the voice with a twitching eye, he saw that it was indeed Naruto 'oh great, it's Anko's clone'. He saw that a bunch of the kids in the room were chuckling at what Naruto said, 'I hate this kid'. He then addressed the whole room "all right SILENCE!"

Everyone stopped chuckling and gave the man their attention

"My name is Ibiki Morino and I will be your judge, jury and if need be your executioner"

Everyone, sans a few shivered at the way the man said that as if he would follow up in the execution

Naruto couldn't hear a thing but as Ibiki continued his hearing was returning but now everything was muffled mumbling. He then noticed everyone was heading to the seats. Looking up he saw Hinata offering him a hand to get up. Once on his feet he tried to clear his ear with his pinky to get some hearing back. He noticed everyone was sitting in the seat so he figured he should get to his assigned seat. Once he was seated he saw that Hinata had sat next to him and gave her a smile. She started to say something but he stopped her by raising his hand and pointing to his ear before shaking his nodded and understood what he meant. Naruto turned to the front to see Ibiki was talking to the whole room but heard just mumbling

'Rama-tou-chan can you do something about my ears? I can't hear what's going on'

"**Hmm it will take a bit, but all that's being said is that you have a written test to do. Ten questions total and you start with ten points, get one wrong and you lose a point, get caught cheating and you lose two points. If you get a zero than your whole team fails and have to leave. The ningen standing by the walls around the room are watching you so you don't cheat. You have an hour…...never thought I would talk about something like this**

Naruto began to sweat at hearing this but kept his calm. He wasn't a genius but he was decent so he figured if he can get one right than his team should be fine 'Thanks Rama-tou-chan. I can do this. No problem'

Once he saw everyone flip the piece of paper that was in front of them, he did the same and he began to sweat more. On the piece of paper were diagrams and charts for some of the questions 'don't panic, don't panic! Just read the questions and find one you can do'. He read the first question

[if an enemy is 100 meters away, at what angle would you need to throw your kunai in order to land a fatal blow. Please be sure to put in the amount of strength used, speed of the kunai, where the kunai would land, condition of the kunai, how the wind would affect the trajectory and how long it would take for death to occur]

Naruto gave a foxy smile at the question 'ok I can't do that one, what's the next question?"

* * *

~45 minutes left with Sakura~

'...X would equal 20 and at an angle of 64 degrees you have an…...87 percent chance of taking out 95 percent of the enemies with a Katon jutsu of b-rank'. Sakura was almost done with the exam as she breezed through another question 'well that one took some thinking. Now I just have a few more to go. I wonder how Sasuke-san and Naruto-san are doing?'. Once this thought came to mind she realized something 'these questions are high level. This is something that wasn't shown in the academy! Sasuke-san should be fine…...but Naruto-san doesn't stand a chance at this!' looking down at Naruto she could tell he was panicking 'come on Naruto, you gotta be able to answer at least one of these!'

* * *

~same time with Sasuke~

'I can barely answer any of these so that means the dobe doesn't have a chance. If he fails and gets me out of the exams, then I'm going to kill him!' he thought as he glared at the back of Naruto's head. He then began to look around the room 'better get my answers. Now ...someone here must be...there!' Sasuke didn't know the answers to some of them, so he chose to find someone who looked like they did. he saw someone in front of him going through the test at a fast pace 'Sharingan!'. Sasuke began to copy the movements of the other participant 'hn, perfect. This guy has all that I need'

* * *

~35 minutes left with Naruto~

Naruto was at his wits end 'THAT'S IT! I gotta cheat! But how?! I don't have any skills to use for this!' Naruto then started listing off his skills in a panicked voice in his head '**Bunshin**? Oh yeah, that's smart. Another me pops up and then what? **Henge**? And do what? **Henge **into someone else in front of everyone and they will still know it's me! **Kiwarami**? And switch places with something or someone with everyone still looking! They will notice my switch immediately!' he took a breath to calm himself 'smell? Oh yeah that could work…..in telling me how many pencils are in the room! Hearing?...if someone was mumbling the answers and if I could hear in the first place! I could copy off Hinata-chan...if she let me but what if we both get caught! I'll ruin her chances! That's it I'M SCREWED'

* * *

~20 minutes left with Ino~

Ino had just finished giving the answers to Shikamaru after she used her **mind transfer jutsu** on Sakura to get the answers and then using it on Shikamaru to give him the answers. She had already written them down on her test and was waiting for the time to run out. Leaning on her hand, her eyes wandered the class, seeing that a few were already finished and a few were still working on it. Her eyes then landed on Naruto and she could see that he was shaking 'Naruto-kun?' she then realized that he might not be able to answer the questions and is panicking 'oh no! He won't be able to advance it he doesn't get one right and on how hard these are he might not get it' she began to think of something she could do 'I could…..but should I?. I already hurt him enough…...but maybe I can use this as a start to apologize' nodding to herself she put her hands in her signature hand sign and quietly said "**mind transfer jutsu**". Her jutsu flew through everyone before it hit her target

* * *

~Naruto's Mindscape~

Ino appeared in a wide open field of flowers bathed in moonlight and surrounded by a forest of massive trees that seemed to be more like a forest for titans. Ino looked around and couldn't help but be in aw "his mind is beautiful…..". After Ino shook her head she began to look around "no time for that, I can use this time to find Naruto-kun and apologize…..maybe he will talk to me again…." as she looked around she spotted something a few feet away from her. Walking closer she saw it was a sleeping fox but it wasn't an ordinary fox. It had a black pattern to it's fur but what shocked her more was that it had five tails "why would Naruto-kun have something like this in his mind? Maybe his mind constructed it because he thought it was cool, I mean it basically has the same colors as Naruto-kun but why five tails?" after thinking about it for a minute she could only think of one plausible solution "maybe he heard about the Kyuubi but not the full details about how it attacked the village, he did skip that day *chuckle*. It would explain why foxes were his favorite animal. He can be a bit absent minded about a lot of things" as she crouched down to the sleeping fox she lifted her hand and pet it gently. 'It's fur is so soft'. She continued to pet the fox and was surprised to see it lean into her hand and begin to purr. 'KAWAII' she was so tempted to hug the fox despite it being as big as her but shook her head "no time for that. Where's Naruto-kun?" she said as she got up and looked around "...he could be anywhere in that forest and I don't have time to look". She felt like she missed her opportunity but she felt like she had to say something as a few tears slid down her face "Naruto-kun…..I hope you can hear me because I wanted to say...I'm *sniff* I'm sorry. For slapping you, for everything I said to you…...for being a horrible friend. I just *sob* want you back in my life…..to smile at me, talk to me…...to be with me". Wiping away the tears in her eyes she chose to do what she really came here to do, not noticing the slight twitch of the sleeping fox's ears or that she was being watched

* * *

~Kurama's den~

Kurama noticed someone enter his kits mindscape and immediately got out of his den and made his way to where the intruder was. '**No one is allowed in here but my kit!'**. As Kurama made it to the edge of the forest, looking at the usual entrance area that Naruto comes in, he saw the back of someone. Focusing his sight on the person he saw it was the blonde haired girl that hurt his kit and she was kneeling down petting Naruto '**how dare she enter here. She has no right to even come close to him!'**. As he got ready to come out and attack her he was stopped when she began to speak. Now focusing on his hearing he caught a bit of what she was saying

"...sorry. For slapping you, for everything I said to you…...for being a horrible friend. I just *sob* want you back in my life…..to smile at me, talk to me…...to be with me"

Kurama thought about what she said and about how his kit felt about this ningin but as he was looking towards her he noticed something on the other side of the clearing. His eyes widened when he saw what it was '**oh no**'. Kurama turned to move at the edge of the forest to remain hidden as quickly as possibly to get to the other side.

Once he made it to where he needed to be he reached his hand out to grab something that just lunged in the direction of the girl. He was fortunate to grab it and hold it in his closed hand. Moving deeper into the forest to avoid being heard, he could feel the being trying to break out of his hand "**what do you think your doing?"**

"LET GO OF ME! LET ME AT HER! LET ME LOOSE"

Kurama got deep into the forest and lifted his closed fist and spoke to the being inside it "**no! You are not going to do anything but go back"**

"Why should I? She is right there! This is the best chance to get her"

"**He wouldn't want her to be hurt! He cares too much for her!"**

"Then why do I want to kill her?"

Kurama was taken aback as he gaped a bit as his fist

"I will get both this bitch and that blue haired one as well. I will kill them both! I will do to them what I did to that fat midget Gato"

Kurama was stunned even more at this and saw that the being forced a very small bit of space in between his fingers. All that was seen was a red dot in the darkness of his fist. Getting an angry look he clasped his other hand over his fist "**go back to the shadows"**

"You can't get rid of me! You will see me again…..dad" the being said with venom in its voice

Kurama crushed the being and watched as a dark mist flew deeper into the forest, towards an area of dead misshapen trees. Looking back towards the minds entry "**...kit"**

* * *

~Hinata real world~

Hinata had noticed the panic Naruto was going through and wanted to help him but the only way she could would be to allow him the copy from her sheet but when she tried to get his attention he didn't seem to hear her. She remembered what happened earlier and figured that he couldn't hear yet. She was going to poke him in his side from under the desk but then she saw something that surprised her. Naruto was writing down the answers, she could see them from the corner of her eye and she could tell they were right 'how is Naruto-kun….?'. She turned her head slightly to look at him and noticed that the facial expression he had was one he used, but it was off somehow. The Naruto than moved his eyes to see her and he smiled while writing something on the side of the paper. Hinata turned her gaze to what was written and her eyes widened

[I'm Ino]

It took a second for Hinata to register what she read and then it finally clicked 'Ino must have used her clan jutsu on Naruto. She's helping him. But why?' she sat there looking at Ino in Naruto's body from her peripheral vision, thinking of why Ino would help Naruto. She then remembered that Naruto and her were close friends. This thought led to her over thinking things 'could...could she also be ...?'

* * *

~5 minutes left~

Naruto blinked his eyes, after he felt odd 'weird ...but whatever! I have to get at least one of these right! How much time do I have left?' turning his head to the clock his eyes fell out of his head as he saw he only had a little under five minutes left 'WHAT THE HELL! How can I only have FIVE minutes left?! It was around twenty last time I checked!' Naruto placed his face in his hands looking at his paper 'that's it...I have to put everything into the tenth….ques…..tion' Naruto noticed that his paper was filled with answers. He couldn't believe it, just a moment ago he was panicking about solving any of these and now he lost a chunk of time and all the answers are here. He was so stunned that he jumped a bit when he heard

"PENCILS DOWN"

Naruto hadn't realized that his hearing had returned. Looking up he saw that time was up and he breathed a heavy sigh of relief 'whatever or whoever helped me...thanks'

* * *

~Ino~

Ino was exhausted from using so much chakra for her **Mind Transfer jutsu **three times but she felt some satisfaction in helping out Naruto as well as her team 'I wish I could have at least apologized to him in there but at least I helped him out with this. When we talk again, I'm going to ask him about that fox in his head. That is if he forgives me…..no I have to get him to see how sorry I am. Maybe when these exams are over'

Ino began to pay attention to what Ibiki was saying and was shocked when he told them the rules of tenth question.

"If anyone gets this question wrong, regardless of your previous score, your whole team fails and you will never again be able to take these exams" Ibiki said getting everyone to start shouting out "ENOUGH! If you don't like it, then you can leave. If you can't handle my decision than you don't deserve to be here."

Ino felt her spirits drop as she saw team after team giving up. A few singulars genin gave up bringing their team down. 'All these guys are just giving up. What if one of us gets it wrong? I don't know if I can do this!'

As Ino debated on whether or not she can keep going, she saw something that broke her heart…..Naruto was slowly raising his hand 'Naruto-kun? He….he's giving up?'

* * *

~Hinata~

Hinata was having similar thoughts on the exam 'I don't think Kiba or Shino will fail this and I should be ok. But what if I get it wrong? I'll end up holding them back and we will be stuck as genin forever! I can't do that to them!'. After a second she turned to her right to see Naruto raising his hand 'Naruto-kun?...he couldn't be!'. Hinata felt saddened to see Naruto do something that he has never done before. He was giving up

* * *

~Naruto~

Naruto had heard that if he got this wrong, not only will he be kicked out of the exam he will never be able to advance in rank again, but something caught his attention 'he's lying! But why is he telling us this? Is he trying to scare…I'm an idiot! Anko-neechan told me when she brought me to the interrogation department that one time that Scarface loves to mess with people's heads and it's working…..that's just mean', Naruto could feel the fear and Uncertainty coming from many of the participants but the ones that got him the most were coming from Hinata and Ino. 'Are they afraid to fail? To let their teams down, but why? They are both amazing shinobi'. Naruto could feel the doubt increase in both of them and it hurt him to think that they might give up 'I have to do something!'. Getting an idea he began to slowly raise his hand 'I hope this helps!'

* * *

Every one of the Rookie nine, including Tenten and Lee were looking at Naruto as he raised his hand. They all knew that he was someone that never quiet even when he was down. They all saw it back in the academy, when he was beaten down in a taijutsu match, he would get back on his feet even when he was all bruised. When trying ninjutsu, he would practice non stop and he would never stop. Giving up was something they never thought Naruto would do and now he was doing just that

They all jumped when Naruto slammed his hand down

"I don't care! I became a genin through field promotion. I will keep getting better until they have no choice but to promote me and if I never become a chunin I will keep getting stronger no matter what stands in my way! So go ahead and give us the question! I'll keep moving forward!" Naruto said with so much determination in his voice that the rest of the rookies gained smiles on their faces and most had the same thought in their head as well as everyone else

'Bring it on!'

Ibiki stared at the blonde before turning his gaze at the remaining genin. He could see that the outburst brought some more backbone to them 'I don't know whether to hate this kid of admire him'. Ibiki looked at the chunin lining the walls as they all nodded their head. Looking back to the genin 'twenty six teams, way more than I expected but no one else seems to be ready to leave. Damn that kid heh'. Well since none of you looked ready to leave I just have one thing to say….congratulations YOU ALL PASS"

The silence that followed was maddening to Ibiki. He expected immediate shouts or questions but nothing. For a thirty seconds everyone was quiet until the suna Kunoichi stood up "what do you mean we pass? What about the tenth question?!"

Ibiki smiled 'there's the reaction I was waiting for' "you staying here was the answer to the tenth question"

Naruto felt all his nerves relax a bit at hearing that they will continue on to the next stage of the exam. He felt even more relieved when he felt the doubt that Ino and Hinata had diminished after his declaration but something was nagging him in the back of his head. He tried to think about it as Ibiki was talking about not having the option to back out of a dangerous mission and how there will always be risks in a mission that were bigger than what they originally thought. Looking at Ibiki he remembered how Anko would say that when he was teaching something he would always have a hidden message in his actions. He smiled at this and how Anko had a weird quirk on how…..she…..would….. 'Thaaaat's what it was'

After Ibiki re-tied his bandana on his head he was about to continue on to congratulate them but stopped when he saw Naruto get up "what do you think your doing?"

Naruto just walked to the windows of the room and asked the chunin standing there to move for a moment. Confused the chunin did so and Naruto began to open all the windows as wide as they could go.

Ibiki just stared at the boy in confusion and would have said something but he saw the boy duck under the windows in time to dodge something flying through one of them.

The object opened up to reveal a tarp and two kunai with wire attached to two edges to let it hang. Out of the tarp came Anko giving a one eyed grin and the peace sign, and on the tarp was a message in big bold letters

[The Sexy single unstoppable Anko Mitarashi

Second proctor of the chunin exams]

"Alright all you maggots, don't celebrate just yet cause the second part starts NOW!"

For the second time in fifteen minutes everyone was shocked silent. Anko kept her pose until she heard someone speak

"Anko-nee-chan, I think you did it again"

Turning to the right Anko saw Naruto sitting on the floor by the windows "Gaki? I didn't do it again!"

Ibiki, who was behind the tarp moved it to show half his face "Anko, your early again"

Anko felt sheepish and gave a nervous chuckle as she looked back to the genin. Her eyes widened a bit at the sight "twenty six teams?! Your losing your touch grumpy scarface"

'Damn these two' "or maybe we have a better group of potentials this year"

Gaining an evil grin she looked towards the genin "doesn't matter. After I'm done with them, more than half of them will be out of these exams

Everyone felt their spirits drop again and could only think

'Now what?'

* * *

End of Chapter

Poll to choose what Naruto's fighting style is called is up on my profile

As I have pointed out at the very top, I skipped some bits to show other points of view. I just felt that Naruto fans who have seen the show, read the manga or other fics. The Ibiki tenth question bit is repetitive and you should all know what happens. I just showed what others were going through

Also I'm pretty sure a lot of you figured out what happened in the mindscape and who that was. Just to let you know he will appear again. Not sure exactly when but he will

OK to everyone. I will be going back to earlier chapters and fixing a lot of problems in them. I will be starting from the first chapter and working my way up. This will mean that the chapter 24 will take longer to come out


	24. A Snake in the forest

FR: *struggle against rop* well are you going to do it

Ino: maybe. Are you going to give me happier moments?

FR: …..Maybe?

Ino: *pulls out kunai and aims for nether region*

FR: do that and I will put you through even worse scenarios

Ino: …...like what?

FR: I have a few ideas

Ino: if you push it too far than you will suffer my wrath

FR: fair enough *grins*

Ino: FANREADER!

FR: anyway guys happy fourth of July!

* * *

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

(author comment) - not a lot of them

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

One thing before we start I am having trouble with the jutsus name, because I keep switching from English to Japanese names. So I will say that you might find it odd when I say kage bunshin and then shadow possession. Sorry if this confuses you. I might just drop the jap names even if some of them sound cooler in Jap :P

Numbers are also a pain but I think I'm finally getting a system for it

Just to clarify: I'm dumb :P

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, it's owned by one wiser than me

* * *

Chapter 24: a Snake in the forest

Naruto sat on the ground next to the windows, as he watched Anko say she would get the numbers down by more than half. 'Wonder what the next trail will be?'. He was brought out of his thoughts when Anko walked up to him

Anko bent down to look at Naruto with a wide grin on her face "hey gaki ready for a fun trip?" Naruto was tilted his head in confusion but didn't get the chance to say anything since Anko picked him up and tossed him over her shoulder

"Anko-nee-chan! I can walk myself"

"Maybe but this is more fun" Anko then turned to the rest of the participants and yelled "meet me at Training ground 44! Be there in thirty minutes or else you're disqualified!"

Naruto heard where they were going and got a big smile on his face 'I haven't been there in a long time! I wonder if Kuma-san is still mad at me hehehehe'.

Anko then jumped out the still open window with Naruto on her shoulder

Everyone remained in their seats at see the proctor of the next stage of the exam basically kidnap one of the participants

The rookie nine all had the same thought ran through their head

'Wonder how Naruto-san/kun knows that crazy woman'

Ino was one of two that felt a bit of jealousy at the idea that Naruto knew a woman that seemed confident not just in personality but in her body as well. Based on the way she dressed, the woman had no shame in showing off her curves. Ino looked down at her breasts and felt even more jealous at the size the woman had compared to herself

The second person was Hinata as she thought at the confidence the woman had, something that Hinata wished she had even a small portion of so she could tell Naruto how she felt. She was a little jealous at the figure the woman had. The thing was she felt that even if she had such a figure it wouldn't matter since she was already hiding a figure that was a few levels higher than her peers but no one knew since she wore somewhat baggy clothes that hide her body from everyone

Both girls shook themselves out of their thoughts when they noticed their teammates leaving the room. Both rushed to catch up with them to get to the training ground

Ibiki had waited a few minutes after the students left before he dismissed the chunin from the room as he began walking passed the desks picking up each sheet of paper. Once he made it to where Naruto was sitting he noticed something on the desk: it was an orange pencil. Now normally this wouldn't be anything to worry about but all the pencils that were distributed were all green in color. He counted the green pencils that were on the desk and the number corresponded with the amount that were seated in this row. He jumped back when a poof of smoke appeared where the pencil was. He shifted his arm so a kunai could slip out of his sleeve in case he needed to get ready for a fight

"Finally I can breathe easier…...even if I don't need to"

Ibiki stared wide eyed as the smoke cleared to show Naruto sitting on top of the desk "what are you doing here kid? I thought you left with Anko?"

Naruto looked towards Ibiki as he gave a foxy smile "hey grumpy scarface!". Naruto could tell it the name pissed him off as the tick mark on his forehead was clearly visible. Naruto would have kept pushing the man's buttons but he gained a serious look as he looked into Ibiki's eyes "Ibiki-sama, there is something I needed to tell you alone"

Ibiki was taken aback at how serious the kid got. Not once has he seen the kid this way. From the little interaction he had with the boy, he knew that there was severe hurt that was hidden behind the smile but this was new to him "what is it"

"I was told by Hokage-sama that if I ever came across anyone that smells of snakes that wasn't Anke-nee-chan, then I am to tell either her or you alone."

Ibiki felt his muscles tighten and nodded for Naruto to continue

"The guy named Kabuto. He smells like snakes. It's not that the smell was coming from his directly, more like he has been around the smell so much that it just stuck to him"

Ibiki's mind started going a mile a minute with what he was told "is there anything else you can tell me, did he act oddly, get closer to anyone, look at someone for a second or mention anything?"

Naruto thought for a second and remembered the feelings he got from the guy and how one came up upon the mention of someone and didn't show up again regardless of anyone else "he seemed interested in Sasuke for some reason" see Ibiki quirk an eyebrow he elaborated a bit while keeping how he got this a secret "before you guys came into the room he was giving us info on some of the other contenders, ones we ask for. He told us their skills who their teammates were and number of missions they went on and the ranks. I asked for Sasuke Uchiha since Sasuke asked for my info and felt like doing it to bug him. When I asked for it the guy seemed really interested on him"

Red flags were going up in Ibiki's head. The information on missions should not be public knowledge. That should only be on records and only available to jounin, Anbu and the Hokage. No Genin should have access and no Jounin would give that info. "Is there anything else? Anything could help"

Naruto thought for a second before he answered "there was someone else who seemed interested in Sasuke. He actually seemed more interested since he felt more greedy at the same time as Kabuto"

"He felt?"

Naruto was kicking himself for letting that slip. The hokage may trust the man completely but Naruto was still wary on letting his secret out "it's just a talent of mine. Please don't ask"

Ibiki saw the small flash of hurt in the boys eyes 'must have to do with the kyuubi if he wants to keep it secret'. "That's fine. Who was the other person?"

Naruto gave a mental sigh of relief as he shook his head "don't know. I didn't look at who it was coming from since it was coming from another part of the room. I would have passed it off but it spiked at the very same second Kabuto's grew."

Now Ibiki felt dread. If Kabuto smelled like snakes and was interested in Sasuke, that would be concerning but if there was someone else in the room that had more greed spike at the same time, brought many thoughts to his mind but one of the worst thoughts stood out to him 'Orochimaru has infiltrated the chunin exams'. Ibiki gave himself a mental shake ' as ridiculous as it is, I should bring this up with the hokage!'. Looking back to the boy he spoke "thank you Naruto. Now you should get to the training grounds before you get disqualified"

Naruto's serious demeanor dropped and he gained another foxy grin "don't worry. Boss should be there already with Anko-nee-chan"

Ibiki saw Naruto go up in a puff of smoke 'a **bunshin **huh? Very clever, not only did he get info that we didn't know about but he used the **bunshin **and **henge **in a way to give us this info. If he can get to the final part of the exams, I'll leave a recommendation for him to make chunin. Good luck kid'. Ibiki picked up the boys paper, looked at it and noticed something. The handwriting, it was very similar to another's. Flipping through the papers he pulled out two that had the same. One was Shikamaru Nara and Ino Yamanaka. He noticed that the one for Shikamaru looked like he rewrote over the answers he had which meant that he must have used the **Shadow possession **for his teammate and based on the position of his teammates it must have been the Akimichi he used it on. This meant that the Yamanaka girl used the **mind transfer jutsu** on the Nara to give him but with the handwriting being on Naruto's as well could only mean that she also used it on him. It could also mean that the Nara used his jutsu on him but during the examine he saw Naruto slump before he began to write down the answers. Not see a look of panic on Naruto's face meant that he wasn't surprised about moving against his own will tipped him off at the lack of **shadow possession.** Th feminine way the writing was done help him out as well. The girl helped out someone outside her team. Ibiki smirked at this because a girl helped out someone that looked like he was panicking from the very second the test started 'heh, kids got a girl and I'm pretty sure he doesn't know it

* * *

~with Anko and Naruto~

Naruto and Anko were standing in front of the gates of training ground 44 and Naruto had just told Anko everything he told Ibiki but more clear on how he found this out.

Anko felt both fear and anger at the idea of Orochimaru being here. She had also come to the conclusion that Ibiki came to, and she began to worry about the reason. She didn't know why Orochimaru would be interested in the Uchiha but she didn't care. She just knew that Orochimaru was planning something and wanted to do whatever she could to put a wrench in it…..with an explosive tag for good measure.

"Hey Anko-nee-chan? You ok?"

Anko shook her head to get the scowl that was on her face. She wanted to lie and say she was but she knew that Naruto would be able to tell if she was so she gave a portion of the truth "no gaki, I'm not but you don't have to worry about it. It's more of a personal thing"

Naruto could tell it was more than just personal but from the emotions he felt coming off her, he felt that he shouldn't bring it up anymore. "Hey Anko-nee-chan,what do we have to do for the next part of the exams?"

Anko was glad for the subject change but kept this info in the back of her head for later. She gave a predatory smile at Naruto that unnerved him a bit "ah ah ah. Not going to tell you anything gaki, I may like ya but this is still a test, so no hints for you. You will find out when everyone else gets here"

Naruto grumbled. He hoped he could get an idea so he could think of a way to get through it in his own way since the last part of the exam, he was panicking for the entire time. He was still thankful for whatever miracle got him the answers to it even if the answers were not really important.

Anko decided to ask something that she wanted to ask before and now that they were alone, she had her chance "so Gaki how many tails you got now? I heard from the old man that you got a few more"

Naruto blushed a bit as he always felt somewhat self-conscious about his tails recently. He knew that the amount of tails he had was important and he once found out that they were very sensitive, when he let some of his baser instincts take over and he ended up chasing his tails. Once he caught on it sent a shiver up his spine that almost made him drop to the floor. Safe to say he was very careful with them when he took a bath. "...I have five tails now"

"Does that mean your stronger now?"

"Well, tou-chan told me that the amount could be for age or it could be for power, but since I have five tails and only twelve years old, it should mainly be a sign for my power but I got them in a weird way so at the moment they are kinda empty, like a battery that needs to be charged. Right now they are just for looks but once I get better the tails will fill up and I will gain the power I should have with them."

"How does he know that? There are only nine bijuu so it's not like there are any other situations like this"

"He says it's mainly a guess but so far he has been right about it. He said I'm the only other bijuu that exists outside of the nine but I'm su~per young compared to the rest of them"

Anko grabbed Naruto and put him in a headlock as she gave him a small noogie "yep you are the gaki to us all!"

Naruto flailed while trying to get out of the hold. This went on for a while as they awaited the rest of the genin

* * *

~20 minutes later~

After the thirty minutes were up everyone had arrived and awaited for the proctor to give the instructions on. Naruto had made it back to his team and listened to Anko give her speech on the training ground

"Welcome to training ground 44, you can call it by it's more infamous name: The Forest of Death!"

Everyone felt unnerved by the name, especially when they heard loud growls and roars coming from the forest.

There were only a few that seemed ok. One of the being Naruto "oooh that sounded like fluffy! Hey Anko-nee-chan, how is the big guy anyway?"

Anko gave a smile at Naruto "he is good, although I am pretty sure he is still mad at you"

Sakura turned to Naruto "who is fluffy and why do you seem so calm about this pace. It gives me the creeps"

Anko answered before Naruto could "he is talking about a giant albino tiger that we know. I call him fluffy because one time I slipped and fell off a branch only to land on his back. His fur was so fluffy, that I gave him that name before he tried to make me his dinner" she then gave a content sigh "hah good times"

Naruto smiled as he also remembered his interaction with the tiger. On one of his hunting trips in the forest, something he kept secret from everyone but Anko since it was her personal playground. He ran into the tiger after he was able to hunt down a boar that was three times bigger than a normal one. He would have gone for the one that was ten times bigger but he was only a kid so he played it safe. The tiger actually found him by the smell of blood from the pig but Naruto was not in the mood to share so it became a game of keep away as the tiger chased him around the forest. After a while it became a sort of game that the two played and they gained a sense of comradery after Naruto gave the tiger half of his hunting spoils one time.

Sakura looked towards Naruto before asking "so how come you know about this tiger?"

Naruto continued to smile "I use to hunt in this forest a few times when I was younger"

Sasuke felt curious about this "why dobe?"

Naruto shrugged "Nice way to pass the time and it's cheaper than going to the market" 'since they charge me four times the amount for rotten food'

Anko felt it was time to continue her role. She wanted to finish it up quickly so she could get to the hokage. She pulled out a stack of papers and gave it to a random genin telling him to pass them around "what you are getting are waivers and you have to sign them before you continue. They state that if anyone of you from outside the village get extremely hurt or die than Konoha is not responsible for it."

After everyone signed and turned in the waivers, they were all told that they would be entering a small shack to be given one of two scrolls from the chunin inside. Their goal was to make it to the tower in the center of the forest with both of the scrolls. One being a heaven scroll and the other being an earth scroll. They had five days to get the other scroll from another team and make it or else they are disqualified.

Naruto felt like he would be cutting it close to when he had to shift back on that fifth day

Team seven had gotten a heavens scroll and be right now in front of one of the many entrances to the forest, arguing about who should carry it

"It should be the strongest one to carry it dobe! That's why I'm going to hold on to the scroll!"

Naruto really didn't want to inflate that oversized ego the uchiha had but to get his point across and not continue the argument, he played on it while still getting the win "that would be too obvious! They would immediately go after you since you are the great Uchiha" he said trying to keep the massive amount of sarcasm from leaking out

Sakura stood to the side as she watched the two argue. She didn't suggest that she carry it because if any of the other teams found out that she had it, she wouldn't be able to defend it as well as the other two. She knew that she was the weakest link in the team, despite getting stronger from training with Haku but she still wasn't at the level as Naruto or Sasuke

After a bit more arguing it was decided that Sasuke would carry it. Naruto didn't really didn't like this decision so while his two teammates turned to the gate with him behind them, he made a clone that **henged **into a scroll and switched places with the real one which Naruto put inside his jacket. Naruto looked around to make sure that no one saw him do it and was thankful that everyone was paying attention to the gate rather than him. He also noticed that Kabuto and whoever the other person that had so much Negative emotion, were not at this entrance. He wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

After a few more minutes of waiting, Anko began to speak through the loudspeakers "alright you brats! The second exam begins in 3…."

Everyone tensed up

"…...2"

Team seven crouched down ready to jump in

"...1"

Naruto tensed his muscles ready to get this done

"...try not to die"

All the gates burst open and everyone jumped into the forest ready for anything it can give them

After Anko watched the last of the genin jump into the forest, the smile she had on disappeared as she immediately **shunshined **to the hokage

* * *

~hokage office~

Anko made it to the hokage office just to see that Ibiki was already there but she felt that what she had to say was of the utmost importance "Hokage-sama I need to speak with you!"

Hiruzen lifted a hand to stop her "I know Anko. Ibiki has informed me of what Naruto had told him. I can assume that he has told you as well"

Anko kept quiet as she nodded 'so he told Ibiki as well. Good, so the old man knows about it"

Ibiki turned to the hokage and continued the conversation they were having "so Hokage-sama, what shall we do?"

Hiruzen chewed a bit on his pipe as he thought of what he could do. He wanted to issue an immediate arrest for Kabuto but it might lead to nowhere if they got nothing from the young man. He also wasn't sure about this second person that might be affiliate with Kabuto but there was no solid evidence that the two are together. He trusted Naruto's senses but the way the boy got the info still had nothing connecting the two other than the timing of interest they had on Sasuke Uchiha. "Anko I am sending you with an Anbu team to follow Kabuto and his team for the first three days of this part of the exam. On the fourth day leave them be and find team seven to check up on them to make sure that nothing major has happened to them. Ibiki I want you to focus on security details for the village"

Anko spoke up after hearing this "what about the other person?"

Hiruzen sighed "if we knew exactly who it was than I would send someone to watch them but right now we don't and there are too many teams to check. I wish we could confirm this but I don't want to spread things out too much"

Ibiki and Anko nodded at hearing this. Ibiki left to do his duty and Anko stood straight in front of the hokage waiting for the anbu team that he would call.

* * *

~back with team 7~

The team had been tree jumping through the forest for a few hours and thanks to Naruto's knowledge of the forest they had avoided areas that had dangerous animals. Sakura and Sasuke still jumped when they started hearing screams coming from a distance. They were not sure if it was from losing to another team or one of the creatures in the forest. The team decided to stop and take a break on one of the large branches.

Sakura was panting from the long and fast journey "so *pant* how do we get another scroll?"

Sasuke scoffed at the question "we find another team, beat them and take their scroll"

Naruto would have agreed but the idea had no thought to it. If they find another team, they might not have the scroll they need and if they run into the suna team ...they would have to leave immediately and hope they weren't spotted. He also wanted to avoid Kabuto, since he didn't trust the guy. "I hate to say it but Sasuke's right. We will have to find a team in order to take their scroll but we have to be smart about this"

Sakura looked towards Naruto "how do we do that?"

"My clones"

Both Sasuke and Sakura had to admit that it was a smart idea to use his clone. Especially since the clones transfer the info back to him

Sakura still felt confused for a minute "but how will you know which scroll they have?"

Naruto paused for a second and thought about it. He got a small idea and felt it would be their best bet "I'll send them in twos. If they get a chance, one of them can hendge into a scroll and use the **kawarimi **to get it. If it's not the scroll we need then they can leave it but if it is, we get the scroll and avoid a fight"

Sasuke didn't like the idea of not fighting anyone "no we should get the scroll ourselves"

Naruto turned to look at Sasuke "look Teme. we are here to pass the exam! Not fight every single fighter here! So shut the fuck up!"

Both of them stared into each others eyes for a minute before Sasuke relented and moved away. Naruto smirked before he summoned fifty clones and then they all went in different directions.

Sakura was impressed by the amount of clones that Naruto summoned but she kept it to herself

Naruto then spoke up, "we should get moving. It's not smart to stay in one spot. It makes it easier for us to get caught, either by another team or one of the animals in this forest"

Both Sakura and Sasuke stiffened when they heard a roar from deep in the forest as well as another scream.

The team then bolted from their spot to go deeper into the forest

* * *

~hours later~

The team had been on the move despite two of the members growing tired from moving so much

Sakura was the first to call out "Naruto-san! *pant* maybe we should take a break"

Naruto stopped on a branch and turned around to look at his two teammates. He saw that Sasuke was panting heavily, hunched over a bit and with a bit of sweat on his forehead. Sakura was on her hands and knees

Naruto felt bad for pushing them too much but after thirty minutes from when he sent out his clones. He felt like something was after them, he could feel the massive amounts of greed that seemed to be following them. After they had moved so much he couldn't get further from the feeling.

Sasuke caught his breath a bit as he glared at Naruto "Dobe! What the hell is your problem!"

Naruto kept glancing around to see if he could spot anything "we're not alone teme and whoever it is, has been following us from the start"

Sakura was now sitting on the branch leaning back on her hands. "Are you *pant* sure? *pant*"

"Yeah"

Sasuke just scoffed "tch if you're too scared to fight, than you don't deserve to be a shinobi"

Naruto just kept looking into the forest "we'll take a break before we get moving again"

Sasuke scowled "don't give orders to an uchiha dobe!"

Naruto didn't care about the teme. He just wanted to get this part of the exams finished as soon as possible. He sat down and kept his senses open, just in case.

They all sat down getting their energy back from the fast traveling they had to do. Sakura gained a look of remembrance as she turned her head to Naruto "hey, any luck with your **bunshin**?"

Naruto jumped a bit at the question since he was looking into the forest. He looked towards Sakura and registered the question. He went through some of the memories he got from a few of the clones "um…. A few of them found some teams but they didn't have the scroll we needed." what he didn't say was that the ones that did have the scroll they needed was both team 8 and 10 so he chose not to try taking their scroll.

Sakura slumped at this since she hoped that one of them might have gotten the scroll they needed and they could just make it to the tower.

Sasuke smirked at this "hm looks like even your clones are useless"

Naruto suddenly got a shot of memories and he shivered at what had happened

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this "what the hell is up with you?"

Naruto shook his head "a pair of my clones had found that suna team. They were caught really fast"

Sasuke scoffed "see what I mean ...useless"

Naruto thought back to the memories 'good thing it wasn't us'

* * *

~_clone memories~_

_The couple of clones that found the suna team had watched the red haired suna-nin named Gaara, wrap up another team in what looked like sand. The clones could only watch with wide eyes as the sand covered the three from the other team entirely and they heard the suna-nin speak his jutsu_

_**Sand coffins**_ _Gaara yelled while lifting his hand towards the three now floating encased shinobi, with his fingers bent like he was grasping a ball_

_The clones could only shudder when they saw what he did next_

_**SAND BURIAL **__Gaara clenched his lifted hand into a fist, which caused the sand to crush the shinobi inside as blood seemed to spray a bit out of the encasing. Blood began to color the sand red and some began to drip onto the ground_

_The clones felt sick as a small sadistic smile began to show on Gaara's face. One of the clones looked to the other and spoke in a whisper, "we should get out of here. Whether they have the scroll we need or not, I don't want to mess with that guy" the second clone nodded and both began to turn around to leave. They stopped when they realized that something was crawling up their feet. Both looked down to see sand begin to climb up their legs and increase in size. Both looked back to where Gaara was standing and saw that he was looking directly at them with his hand raised in their direction_

"_Mother says she wants your blood"_

_Both of the clones began to scream out and struggle as the sand had made it to their chest. As the sand got to their neck both lifted their chin in desperation as they both heard Gaara speak_

"_**Sand Coffin!"**_

_Both clones could no longer see anything but sand. Fear gripped their hearts as they heard Gaara speak again, though it was muffled they knew what was said_

"_**SAND BURIAL!"**_

_And with that both clones dispelled, sending the memories back to the original_

_~Memory end~_

* * *

Naruto shook his head trying to rid his head of the memories. Coming back to reality his eyes shot open as he felt the feeling he felt following grow much closer and the smell of snake was now bombarding his nose. He jumped to his feet and turned fast to his teammate

Sakura could see the alert look in Naruto's eyes and didn't like what it could mean.

Sasuke was taken aback a bit at the panic he saw in Naruto's eyes

"WE NEED TO MOVE!"

Before Sasuke or Sakura could get to their feet a massive gust of wind blasted at the three. Naruto let his claws out to grab onto the branch they were on but the wind was strong enough that he was pushed back a bit leaving claw marks dragging across the branch.

Sakura and Sasuke were not so lucky as they were both launched away deeper into the forest in different directions.

Naruto couldn't see what direction they went since the wind had caused him to squint. After the wind had died down a second burst came but Naruto was ready and applied chakra to his feet to keep him planted in place. What he didn't expect was a massive dark tan snake with dark brown splotch pattern on it, climbing up the tree he was on till it was looking down at him "oh shit!"

The snake opened its mouth and launched it's head to bite at Naruto. Naruto jumped back to avoid the bite and flipped backwards in the air to land on a small portion of the branch. Looking back at the snake, he had to jump to the side as he saw its tail coming down on him. The tail strike shattered the entire branch causing Naruto to fall. He was several hundred feet in the air and Naruto did not want to know if he could survive from such a height. He looked up to see the snake was following him in the air as it's tail clung to the tree and it was going to eat him if he didn't do something. Quickly pulling out a kunai and ninja wire, he tied the wire in the loop of the kunai and tossed it to one of the trees. Once the kunai got stuck into the wood of the tree, he grabbed onto the wire and swung away from the snake that had just bit down at where he was in the air. Swinging away and towards the tree, he felt a bit of relief avoiding being eaten. The kunai unfortunately dislodged from the tree and Naruto dropped from the swing but Naruto was falling into the direction of the tree. Flipping in the air to bring his feet to the trunk of the tree he channeled chakra to his feet and stuck to it. "that was close". Naruto heard a hiss behind him since he was in a crouch position and without looking he bolted up the tree, just in time to avoid another bite that shattered the area he was just on. "I am NOT going to be some snakes lunch!". Looking down he saw the snake was climbing the tree fast, so fast that he would be caught soon. "When I get out of this I am SO working on my damn speed in my human form!"

The tree he was running on, exploded by a tail strike that went through the tree and hit Naruto hard sending him flying.

"DAMN IT!"

The snake launched at Naruto and opened its mouth to bite again at him. Naruto didn't have time to use the same air maneuver again, so all he could do was shift himself into the air, braced his legs, lifted his arms, pumped as much chakra into his limbs and got ready. The snake bit down at Naruto but he was able to stop the mouth from closing entirely on him. Naruto was on the snakes lips keeping the mouth open. Naruto felt strain on his body as he twinged in pain "N-no way I'M GOING TO BE EATEN! DATTEBAYO!".

The snake kept moving through the forest and kept trying to close its mouth.

* * *

~meanwhile with Sakura~

Sakura was now on ground level after she was blasted away from the gut of wind. "Ow ...where am I?". she looked around to see if she could see the rest of her team but found that she was alone. After getting up, she dusted herself off a bit and decided to follow the small body size trench that was obviously made from her travels. After a bit of walking she saw a massive snake coming in her direction. She immediately hid behind a tree just in time to avoid it. She looked up to its head and was glad that it didn't see her but something caught her eye. It was a small flash of orange at the tip of the snakes mouth. To Sakura it looked like a bit of Naruto's sash but she thought it would be stupid to think of such a thing. She was brought out when she heard yelling from the direction the snack head was

"YOU'RE NOT GETTING ME! WHEN I GET OUT OF THIS, I'LL DESTROY YOU STUPID HEBE!"

Sakura than realized that the orange she saw was indeed Naruto's sash. She felt dread at the fact that Naruto was about to be eaten. She wanted to help but she had no clue on what to do. She had no jutsu to use and no weapons to attack with. Naruto was the heavy hitter of the team, she was more a support, even if she couldn't really be the support she could be. She could let Naruto get out of this but she couldn't bring herself to do that to her teammate, so will all the courage she could muster she ran towards where the snake was going.

Once Sakura was able to catch up enough, she had jumped on top of the snakes body, and run up it's slithering body. She had trouble keeping on top of the body since it was scales and in constant movement but adding chakra to her feet she was able to move up. Once she got close to it's head, the snake stopped moving causing Sakura to trip. Looking up from her laying position she saw the snake move it's head to look at her. Her eyes widened in fear as the snake was looking at her and the fact that she could see Naruto in the snakes lips keeping the mouth open

"NARUTO!"

Naruto who was struggling against the still attempted closing mouth heard his name being called and turned his head to the side to look behind him. He saw Sakura was laying on top of the snake's neck area. 'Sakura?' feeling the snake push harder to close the mouth, his knees buckled a bit before he put more strength into his limbs to push them straight again. Turning his head to look at Sakura again he screamed out "SAKURA! A LITTLE HELP!"

Sakura got back on her feet, trying to think of a way to help out. She stopped and looked back in time to see the tail of the snake heading in her direction. Jumping off the snake she narrowly avoided the strike and tumbled onto the ground. Looking up she rolled to avoid another strike. She began to run away from the snake that started to slither in her direction. Sakura began to run up the tree hoping to get away but the snake began to coil up the tree after her

Naruto kept his gaze behind him to see Sakura still running. It was hard to keep track since the snake was going around the trunk in order to chase the girl. He began to think on a way to get out of this and got a stupid idea but it was the only thing he could think of. "SAKURA! DO YOU HAVE ANY EXPLOSIVE TAGS!?"

Sakura turned her head and panicked a bit more since the snake was still coming. She felt like her only chance to get away would be when the snakes head was on the opposite side of the trunk. She heard the question and yelled back "WHY?!"

"TIE AS MANY….. AS YOU CAN TO A KUNAI…..AND TOSS IT IN…..IT'S MOUTH" he yelled as the snake coiled around the trunk again and yelled everytime the head was on the same side as Sakura.

"WHY!?"

"JUST DO IT!"

Sakura dug into her weapons pouch and grabbed seven of the tags. She had to jump off the trunk and down to a branch as the snake swung it's head at where she was

Naruto grunted as the head impacted the trunk. He was glad that he didn't loosen his grip on the snakes lips but he felt his arms and legs, starting to get tired. After all the moving he felt some snake spit cover him and he was starting to think of anything painful he could do to the snake but his plan he was going to do would be enough. Another thought came to his mind 'where the hell is that Teme when you actually need him!?'

* * *

~meanwhile with Sasuke~

Sasuke got up from the ground and dusted himself off from the gust of wind "tch whoever did that is going to pay for it!"

"Kukuku well what payment would I have to give for my greeting?"

Sasuke looked around for the voice but couldn't find where it was coming from. Once he looked up he saw that standing on a low branch was a Grass kunoichi looking down at him. He didn't know what was up with the woman but he felt uneasy but maintained his attitude "so your the one that did that. Don't think that you can get away from doing that to me". As he began to walk towards the Grass kunoichi he paused as a massive amount of KI came upon him. He fell to his knees, trying to breathe but felt like his lungs were being gripped by hands and they were squeezing them. He saw his death. He saw the woman piercing his chest with her hand before ripping his heart out before crushing it.

"Kukuku is this your limit? What a disappointment. You are weak compared to Itachi"

Sasuke heard this and gritted his teeth as he slowly pulled out a kunai and stabbed himself in the leg to get out of his stupor. Getting back to his feet he glared at the kunoichi "don't you dare say that name around ME!" Sasuke leapt towards the woman ready to fight

The kunoichi smiled wider as she stood there ready to test the last Uchiha of konoha

* * *

~back with Naruto and Sakura~

'Tou-san! I could use a bit of your chakra!'

"**Alright just hold on. Let's hope that your teammate hurries up!"**

Naruto felt his father's chakra pour through his system, helping him hold the mouth open but he was still getting tired

Sakura had finally gotten her explosive tags tied to a kunai but she realized that she would need to aim for the mouth of the moving snake. She had practice throwing kunai but she was always stationary. She could do it while moving but she was not entirely confident with throwing it through a small opening on a moving target while she was moving as well.

"SAKURA HURRY UP!"

Sakura was still unsure but she thought of one way it could work. She made her way to another tree and began to run up the tree while looking back to see the snake still chasing her. This was going to be her only shot as she no longer had any more tags and was running out of stamina. Waiting for the snake to coil around the tree before it moved up in a straight line for a bit. She saw her chance and immediately jump off the tree, turned around, took aim and threw her kunai in the opening of the mouth. She didn't know what Naruto was actually planning but she could think of what it might be.

Naruto still looking behind him, he saw Sakura throw the tags. Pushing the mouth open a bit wider. He saw the tags go into the mouth but he saw that the slime had put out the small sizzling of the tag. He thought as best he can and came up with another plan. The tags were going further down the snake's throat and knew he had to act fast. Spitting out the snake spit in his mouth he silently gave thanks to his father for teaching him how to do this. Taking a deep breath, he channeled chakra into his lungs, he breathed out a hot stream of fire into the snake's throat. He kept the stream going hoping that it would reach its target. After blowing the flames down the snakes throat for a few more seconds, he heard it.

Sakura in the middle of her jump threw another kunai that was tied with Ninja wire towards an adjacent tree and swung away hoping she would be able to get away from the snake. During the swing she turned her head to look at Naruto who began to blow fire into the snake's throat for a few seconds and then a portion of the snake expanded with a muffled *boom*. Then another and another and another. After a few more the snake had exploded entirely and the force threw Sakura off the wire she swung on and she impacted hard with the tree she was aiming for

Naruto was happy to hear the muffled explosions from inside the snake but after he stopped breathing fire the snake had finally exploded and the force of it launched Naruto into the air. After flying into the air for a bit he began to fall back to the ground. Naruto felt worry since he was falling from very high in the air and he was extremely tired from keeping the mouth open and breathing fire. His eyes felt heavy while falling and while trying to think of something, he suddenly felt himself stop with his arms and legs dangling down. Turning his head to look up he saw that a kunai had embedded into the end of his sash 'good thing...I added the sash belt... when Anko-nee-chan ...took me clothes shopping'. Moving his head towards where the kunai came from, he saw that Sakura threw it. Lifting his right arm, he gave a thumbs up as a thanks. Sakura smiled as she collapsed onto the large branch in exhaustion. Naruto turned his body to climb slowly up so he could pull out the kunai. Using a bit of his chakra to wobbly climb up the tree before jumping to where Sakura was. He was so tired that he couldn't land on his feet and crashed next to Sakura. 'My limbs feel numb! Tou-san, can't you fix it?'

"**I can but it will still take a bit of time before you can feel them again. Be glad that it will only take a few hours and not days"**

Naruto felt a bit of relief at that. He rolled to his side to see that Sakura turned her head to look at him. Both began to give a tired laugh for surviving something like that. After a few minutes, Naruto moved to lean on his hands as he still tried to get his breath again.

Sakura just laid on her back just happy that she was alive. She turned her head to look at Naruto and after calming a bit she saw that Naruto was covered in both snake spit and guts. "Naruto ...your gross"

Naruto felt confused at her statement before he looked down at himself to see that he was covered in gunk "oh man! Gross! *sniff* *sniff* Oh gross I STINK". Naruto wanted to cover his nose but his hand was covered in the crap as well. He gave himself a mental note about getting his father to teach him how to control his senses so he could tone it down since he was tired about them causing problems

"**You should have asked me to teach you that before I taught you how to breathe our bijuu fire"**

'Well I didn't expect these kinds of problems. But next time we train, we will fix them.'

Both Sakura and Naruto were startled when they heard a scream coming from the forest. Turning their heads into its direction, they recognized the voice of the scream. It was Sasuke.

Naruto grumbled as he slowly got to his feet "damn it we forgot about him. Sounds like he needs help". 'Damn it my legs feel like lead and I can't even feel my arms'. Turning to Sakura who was still laying on the branch, he knew she wouldn't be able to move for a while "Sakura-san, I'm going to go help the teme. You going to be ok waiting here?"

Sakura nodded her head "I'll be fine. I will catch up as soon as I can"

Naruto nodded back before he used all his strength to jump in the direction of the scream

* * *

~few minutes ago with Sasuke~

Sasuke was panicking as he realized none of his attacks even got close to the kunoichi. The kunoichi didn't even block any of the punches or kicks he threw. She just swerved around all the attacks like he was going in slow motion. Sasuke had activated his sharingan but the speed the kunoichi was using was making it fairly useless as even though he could see things more clearly, he couldn't even see her move. Jumping back, Sasuke went through hand signs for his katon jutsu. "**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu"**. Sasuke watched as the fireball was heading towards the kunoichi. He smirked when he saw that the kunoichi didn't move. He thought that the sheer power of the jutsu caused her to be shocked still. Once the jutsu impacted, his smirk widened, thinking he finished her off.

"Ku ku ku that was slightly impressive Sasuke-kun"

Sasuke turned around just in time to feel a fist impact in his solar plexus. Feeling the air leave him he saw that the kunoichi was coming out of the tree. 'Just how strong is she?!'. Sasuke was launched into the air and impacted the bottom of a branch that was above them. Sasuke gained enough breathe to shift himself so he could flip to the top of the branch he impacted. "Damn! What kind of skills does this bitch have?!"

"The kind that I am willing to offer...Sasuke-kun"

Sasuke jumped forward before flipping to face behind him and saw that the kunoichi was standing right where he was. Once he landed he glared at her "who the hell are you!?". Sasuke then noticed that a piece of skin under her left eye looked to being dangling under her eye showing paper whit skin with some purple around it.

The kunoichi then lifted her hand to place a finger behind the sagging skin and pulled it down to reveal more of the of the white skin "I am one of the legendary sannin, Orochimaru. I have come for you specifically Sasuke-kun"

Sasuke took a step back in fear at the idea of fighting one of the Sannin. "*gulp* Why do you want me?"

Orochimaru pulled the rest of the fake face off as his long tongue licked passed his lips "hmm I'm here to offer you a way to power. A way to gain the power to kill your brother"

Sasuke paused as he felt his interest peaked. A sannin was offering him a way to gain the strength he wanted. A way to kill his brother to show the might of the Uchiha and in the back of his mind he had another small thought 'and to show Naruto where his place is...under my foot'

Orochimaru saw that Sasuke was interested and in deep thought. He used this chance to stretch out his neck towards the unaware Uchiha. Once he was close enough he opened his mouth and bit down hard onto the boys neck

"AAAAAAHHHHHH"

Orochimaru poured in the chakra needed and focused on implanting the seal he had created for his purposes. After a few minutes, his curse mark was placed and he released the boy as he retracted his neck. He stood there as he watched the boy fall to his knees as he clutched at where the curse mark was forming "if you survive this, seek me out and I shall grant you more power"

Orochimaru was brought out of his happy mood when he ducked to avoid a flying roundhouse. Turning his head he saw the blonde of Sasuke's team land further down the branch he was on. 'Hm the kyuubi brat, Kabuto's info had told me that he is a useless shinobi.'

Naruto couldn't feel his legs after throwing that kick towards the pale man 'tou-san can I have some more chakra!'

"**Fine but you need to get away from this man. He is dangerous. If you can, get his scent!"**

'Why?! And I can't! All I can smell is the crap that's on me!'

"**Focus! Focus passed the smell on you and have your sense of smell focus on a point in front of you. You can separate the different smells around you so find the man's smell. But remember, your first priority is to get away from him"**

'I'll try!'

Naruto then felt a surge of power refilling him with energy. He knew that his father's chakra was potent but he would be able to handle it for a few minutes without losing himself. He needed to get Sasuke and leave.

Orochimaru felt the kyuubi's chakra 'hmm, so he uses the demons chakra immediately against me huh. This could be a problem for my plans later' Orochimaru smiled as he thought of a way to hinder the boy. He saw that the boy disappeared from sight 'hmm impressive speed for someone this young but it's not even his power, it's the demons. Without it he is nothing but a useless brat'. Orochimaru stood still and waited for the boy to show up.

Naruto re-appeared in the air next to Orochimaru's and prepared a claw strike. Naruto was going to launch the man away with the strike and then go pick up Sasuke so he could get leave the area. What he didn't expect was to be grabbed by the throat and brought to eye level of the man. Naruto grabbed the wrist putting all his remaining strength in trying to get out of the grasp 'shit! I gotta get the teme and get out of here. This guy is way to strong! ….wait if he's this close, I can get his scent!' for a few seconds of struggling he tried to get the scent but he could only get the snake gunk still on him 'damn it FOCUS!'

Orochimaru smirked as he looked at the boys eyes. He thought that the eyes were slitted much like his own but slightly different 'must be the kyuubi's influence but it won't be a problem much longer'. Orochimaru reached for the boys shirt and ripped off the lower half. He dropped the ripped piece of shirt and curved his fingers as he used a massive bit of chakra into creating a kanji on each of his fingers and thumb. He expected that the seal would react to the seal he was creating but much to his irritation it didn't show. 'Now this is interesting. Is it possible that it was concealed so no one would be able to tamper with it. Impressive. Either Minato or that pathetic former teammate of mine did this, pity that I had studied the seal in great detail so I know where it is on the boy and where to place this'

Naruto saw the sudden stop the pale man had and smirked "surprise!" and took a deep breath

Orochimaru looked up to the boys face in time to see him breathe a stream of fire. It was so close and unexpected that Orochimaru was burnt in the face causing him to let go of the boy 'damn this boy!'. Orochimaru launched the hand that had the kanji and aimed for the boy

Naruto was in the middle of falling to the branch when he saw a hand move at great speed.

"**KIT YOU TO MOVE OUT OF THE WAY! DON'T LET THAT HI…."**

Kurama was silenced when the hand impacted on Naruto's stomach. Naruto felt his entire body burn and immense pain in his stomach as the hand that impacted his stomach kept pushing him until he impacted with the trunk of the tree enough to shatter the wood he impacted on.

Orochimaru was clutching the right side of his face as it, his right shoulder and bicep were covered with massive burns. "You little brat! I should end you right now." Orochimaru was walking towards the down blonde that was amazingly still conscious but clutching his body in pain

Naruto was in a fetal position on his side as his body felt like it was being ripped apart 'shit! What did he do!?'. Naruto moved his eyes to see the man was walking towards him. Naruto gritted his teeth as he pressed his knuckles down and slowly pushed himself up a bit. When he was halfway up he looked up to see that the man was also twitching.

Orochimaru paused his walking as he felt his body twitch from the burns. 'What is wrong with this body?! Is this because of the demon chakra? Could it have done something to it?!'. Orochimaru knew that he would need treatment soon so he reluctantly decided to let the boy live for now. "Be grateful boy. You will live through this day" Orochimar then opened his mouth painfully to spit out a scroll "this is the scroll you will need to advance. Consider this a gift to you for your achievement to harm me and an extra gift to Sasuke-kun." Orochimaru then felt the chakra signatures of others coming towards him, although they were weak so he assumed that it was a group of genin coming "hmm seems that someone is coming. They might be your allies or enemies but I have no business with them" Orochimaru began to melt into the wood of the branch while still clutching his face "protect Sasuke-kun with your life boy. Since it's the only thing I expect from you" and with that Orochimaru vanished from sight.

Naruto couldn't gather any strength and collapsed as his vision was blurring he called out in his mind 'tou-san, can you help out a bit?'

"..."

'Tou-san? Are you there?'

"..."

'Tou-san please say something…...this isn't funny'

"..."

'Rama-tou-sama?! Please don't leave me again…..'

"..."

'please ...I don't like being alone' Naruto felt tears start to run down his face as his vision blackened and before he lost consciousness he heard something

"NARUTO-KUN/NARUTO-KUN"

The last thing he saw two people coming towards him. One person with the colors: dark purple and platinum blonde and the next person was cream color and dark blue

* * *

~1 hour later~

The rookie nine were gathered in a small cove with a large tree that was hollowed out. Shikamaru and Choji were standing right outside of the entrance to the hollow tree Shino and Kiba along with Akamaru were on the edge of the cove keeping a perimeter.

Both Naruto and Sasuke were unconscious inside the hollow tree. Ino and Hinata were taking care of Naruto, while Sakura tended to Sasuke.

Naruto was sweating constantly and had tears falling down the sides of his face as he mumbled "please don't go…..don't leave me alone". This had hurt both girls in hearing him say this. Ino who was on Naruto's left, had wiped off the sweat from his forehead and left arm as Hinata who was on Naruto's right, wiped off the sweat from his right arm and torso as well as check on him. They had already cleaned him of most of the gunk he had on him

Hinata had learned during one of their training sessions, to not use the byakugan on Naruto as the amount of Chakra he had was staggering. He had so much that it looked like he didn't have chakra coils or points, just a mass of chakra. She tried it now just as a percaution but she saw that his massive amount of chakra was pulsing in bright flashes. So much so that it had started to hurt her eyes so she chose to just examine him normally

Sakura kept an eye on sasuke as he seemed to be in pain as he slept. She didn't know how to help him. She wasn't a medic and had only basic field practice. All she could do for her teammate is place a wet rag on his forehead and hope that it would help. She looked back to her other teammate, to see that he was being well taken care of by Hinata and Ino. She wondered why the two were so adamant in making sure he was okay. She also wondered what had happened to them while she was still recovering on the branch.

Sakura was fortunate that the whole fight with the snake had caught the attention of team 8. Kiba and Akamaru had heard Naruto yelling and the explosion, then went over to help. When they saw Sakura laying on a branch they jumped over to her and checked to see if she was alright. Hinata was a bit concerned for her but she felt more worry for her other teammates, mostly Naruto

Team 10 actually came across the destroyed path that the snake made and in a bit of curiosity on Ino's part, followed the path of destruction to see what caused it. They had arrived a few minutes after team 8 and had the same concerns. Ino was the first to ask Sakura "where's Na...the rest of your team?"

Sakura told them the direction Naruto went and they all jumped in that direction. They came across both Sasuke and Naruto collapsed on the ground and panicked.

They moved to the cove they were now resting in. Sakura had also picked up the scroll that was on the ground near Naruto and found it was the scroll they needed. But she also found out that Sasuke no longer had their scroll, which meant that they had to find another one.

Sakura had decided that she would try and get some sleep, since she was still exhausted from before. Turning to the other two females she spoke "hey can you make sure that Sasuke-san is ok. I'm going to try and get some sleep"

Both Hinata and Ino turned to Sakura and nodded. They were both told on what happened and understood that Sakura was exhausted.

Sakura laid down facing in the other direction, a bit away from them as to not get in the way.

Hinata turned to look at Ino. she could see the worry in the blonde girls eyes as she looked at Naruto. It was the same look she would give the boy as well. "Y-you care about him, don't you?"

Ino looked up from Naruto to Hinata "of course I care about him. He is ...was my friend" she said that last bit in a soft hurt voice

Hinata tilted her head "what do you mean he 'was' your friend?"

Ino looked down at Naruto in shame "I…..hurt him. At the time I was mad at something he said and I didn't want to believe what he was saying was true. I confronted him about it and didn't even consider if what he was saying was true." Ino began to feel tears welling up in her eyes but she didn't care "I...I was so mad that I *hiccup* I slapped him and called him the dobe of the class *sob*. I *sob* still remember the look of hurt in his eyes when I did that. And when he was leaving I told him to never talk to me again and ….he promised me he wouldn't *sob*"

Hinata sat there listening to what Ino was saying and felt tears fall down her cheeks as well. She felt a bit of anger when she heard that Ino slapped Naruto and called him dobe but she could see the pain the girl was in. Ino felt so much regret from her actions that nothing Hinata could say would help her. Hinata got up from her kneeling position and moved around Naruto so she could give Ino a hug. Hinata now understood why Ino had helped Naruto out in the first exam. She wanted to do something that could help her ask for forgiveness from him.

Ino just ended up crying into Hinata's chest "*sob* how could I do that to him when all he has *hiccup* ever done was be nice to me, help me and would always listen to what I say"

Hinata just patted her on the back as she cried as well "shh shh. It will be ok. Naruto will forgive you. I'm sure"

"*sob* No he won't. Why would he? *sob"

What the two didn't know was that Sakura was still awake and had heard everything that Ino said. Sakura had a sad look on her face as she thought about what happened between Ino and Naruto 'I had no idea that's what happened to them. That must be why Naruto looked so torn that morning. Oh kami what have I done'

* * *

~in the forest~

In the forest, high up in the trees, watching the group of nine were three oto-nin. The same nin that attacked Kabuto right before the first exam. Zaku was tapping his foot impatiently "what are we waiting for! I say we go and finish them off right now!"

Dosu looked to his left to look at Zaku "keep it down will ya. We don't want to alert them." turning to his right Dosu spoke with their last teammate "well Kin, what do you say? Should we go say hello now?"

Kin smirked as she looked at the group "not yet. Lets wait till they fall asleep. It will be much easier that way."

* * *

~next morning~

It was late at night when most of the nine had chosen to go to sleep. Shikamaru, Kiba and Choji had made a fire in the middle of the cove and slept around it. Ino had cried herself to sleep in Hinata's arms. Hinata chose not to move from the spot and fell asleep.

The only one that remained awake the whole night was Shino but you wouldn't be able to tell, as Shino was sitting slumped near the died out fire and his eyes were covered by his shades. Shino was keeping track of the three Oto-nin that were slowly making their way towards them. He and Kiba had discovered them when Shino's bugs had found them and Akamaru had caught their scent as well. They had chosen to keep quiet just to see what they would do but had a plan in motion just in case

Kin, Dosu and Zaku were on ground level, moving closer towards the cove. Zaku was grinning like mad, thinking of all the things he could do to some of the kunoichi in the group. Dosu was thinking of how he could get the cannon fodder away from their target. Kin wanted to hurt some of the kunoichi as she thought that they were nothing but trash. Something all three felt at the same time was tired but they just passed it off as lack of sleep.

Once the Oto-nin were at the edge of the cove, Shino shifted his head ever so slightly in their direction. This one gesture caused the Oto-nin to jump forward into an attack. Shino stood up from his sitting position but put no guard up.

Kin threw here senbon towards Shino, Zaku jumped into the air to strike at the sleeping nin and Dosu charge towards the hollow tree.

* * *

~with Zaku~

Zaku was about to strike at Kiba who he saw as an easy target since the boy was asleep. What he didn't expect was a massive fist to hit him hard from the side launching him away. Once Zaku stopped tumbling on the ground, he looked back to see that the massive fist belonged to the pudgy konoha-nin "what the fuck!"

Kiba slowly opened his eyes and got up to his feet with a smirk on his face. Turning to Zaku he spoke in a cocky tone "heh bout time you guys came out. I was starting to think you were just going to stalk us"

Zaku got up and glared at the two konoha-nin "no way you knew we were here! You're nothing but konoha trash! A sniveling mutt and a fattass!". Zaku lifted his arms, ready to launch his jutsu "**Zankūha**" but nothing happened "why the fuck isn't it working!"

Kiba felt anger coming off his fellow nin and backed away from Choji. Kiba knew for a fact that you never call an Akimichi fat unless you want to suffer a beating and he could see that Choji was seeing red

"I'M NOT FAT! **Baika no Jutsu! Nikudan Sensha!"**

Zaku looked up in time to see a big spinning ball heading his way

* * *

~with Kin~

Kin had launched her senbon needles at Shino and prepared to use her genjutsu on him. However Shino unleashed a small swarm of bugs from his sleeve and created a barrier to block them. Kin, thinking she could still use her genjutsu since he was still close, began to channel her chakra into it. She grinned thinking it would have worked since Shino didn't move but to her shock another swarm of insects came towards her "shit!". She tried to get away but soon found herself covered "get these things off me!"

"Illogical. You are an enemy and thus must be dealt with"

* * *

~with Dosu~

Dosu was making his way to the tree when he heard his team behind him. Pausing to turn, he saw that his teammates were being decimated "what the hell are they doing?! They should be able to wipe the floor with these Konoha nin!"

"Don't underestimate konoha"

Dosu turned around and saw the pink haired kunoichi standing at the entrance of the tree. She was soon joined by the Yamanaka and the Hyuga. "Oh please, what do you think you could do against me. Now be good little girls and let me have Sasuke Uchiha"

Sakura looked at both of her fellow kunoichi but they also had the same look of confusion. Looking back to Dosu, Sakura asked "what do you want with Sasuke-san?"

"None of your business now move!" Dosu charged towards the three.

Hinata and Ino jumped to the sides as Sakura charged forward. Sakura saw that Dosu threw a punch but it was slow enough for her to shift her head to avoid the punch. Once she dodged she threw her own punch and hit Dosu in the face causing a bloody nose and forcing Dosu back a few steps.

Dosu wiped the blood from his nose and watch the pink haired kunoichi for his attack to do it's part. But nothing happened "wha…! She should be on the ground with what I launch! What's going on!"

"**Leaf Hurricane"**

Dosu was then kicked hard in the head that launched him back further.

Landing in front of the three kunoichi was Rock Lee in his fighting pose "the handsome devil of Konoha! Rock Lee has arrived" he said as he gave a sparkling smile

Dosu grunted as he pulled himself up off the ground "what the hell! What's going on?!". He was pulled out of his rage when both Zaku and Kin were dropped next to him, both still conscious but seemed to be trying their best to stay that way "you got yourself beat by konoha-nin!"

"It's because none of you knew we had you beat before you even made it close to us"

Dosu turned to see that the one that had been laying down even after the fighting started. He yawned as he spoke

"Troublesome. We set up a trap and you three fell into it right away" Shikamaru said as he lazily walked to join his friends

"What trap!"

Shino moved to join his team, as team 8 and 10 surrounded the three oto-nin "it would be illogical to tell you how we defeated you"

Lee had stayed with Sakura next to the tree and watched as the two teams spoke with the Oto team. Sakura turned to Lee "thank you Lee for helping us out here"

Lee gave her a thumbs up and another sparkling smile "of course! It would be unyouthful if I let the teammates of my youthful friend Naruto, be hurt"

Sakura smiled at this 'Naruto really knows how to make friends'

Before anything else could be done, a dark feeling fell upon everyone there. They all looked around to see where it was coming from but they got their answer when Lee was kicked in the back and pushed away from where he was.

Sakura turned to who kicked Lee and felt fear overtake her as she saw Sasuke standing there with his leg up and a sadistic smile on his face. What scared her more was that she could see dark purple chakra flowing off him and half his face was covered in flame like black markings.

Sasuke began to laugh darkly as he looked down at his hand. "So this is the power he spoke of" he chuckled darkly, "this is the kind of power I need to kill those who stand in my way!". Sasuke looked back up at Lee who was giving him a look of shock before he charged at Lee

Dosu, Zaku and Kin had eyes wide open at seeing their target with the curse mark. Kin shook her head in fear "he sent us to fight him after he gave the uchiha the curse mark?! Were we just here to test him with it?"

Dosu shook his head "don't care, I'm not staying to deal with someone with that on them. Lets go Kin, Zaku!"

Zaku growled at this "fuck that I can beat them all alone if I wanted" Zaku then got up and charged at Sasuke.

Team 8 and 10 were more focused on Sasuke fighting against Lee to notice Zaku had moved until they saw him charge the two fighting nin

Lee was dodging and blocking the flurry of punches and kicks Sasuke was throwing. 'Whatever that is that Sasuke-san has covering him has improved his speed and strength a bit but it seems much to unnatural'. Lee then grabbed Sasuke's fist and held it tight "you must calm yourself Sasuke-san. This is no way to have a friendly spar"

"This is no spar this is a fight! You are in my way so I will tear you down!"

They were interrupted when Zaku punched Sasuke in the face. Zaku smirked as his fist connected but much to his shock, all it did was turn his head.

Sasuke moved his head against the fist and glared at Zaku "don't interfere!". Sasuke then pulled his hand out of Lee's grasp and punched Zaku in the face, hard enough the an audible *CRACK* was heard by everyone

Zaku crashed hard into the ground as he clutched his face in pain as he screamed out in pain "argh you piece of shit! I'll kill you!"

Sasuke stomped onto Zaku's hest hard as he smiled at the screams of pain. He then picked up the boy by the neck and threw he behind him.

Zaku landed in a tumble and stopped at Sakura's feet.

Sakura was too scared to move as she stared at Sasuke jump in the air and do hand signs

Everyone noticed where his target was and what he was about to do. They all screamed "SASUKE DON'T DO IT!"

Lee ran towards Sasuke in order to stop him but he didn't make it in time

"**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu"**

Lee saw the fireball fly over him and make its way to Sakura "SAKURA-CHAN!"

Sakura stood there in fear as the jutsu grew closer. She could feel the heat from it as she had another thought 'I'm going to die'.

She was then tackled hard and barely made it out of the pathway of the jutsu. The explosion of the jutsu impacting the ground launched her further away and she tumbling several times before she stopped. Looking up she saw that the one that tackled her out of the way was Naruto who looked to be breathing hard "Naruto?"

Naruto looked down at Sakura as he gave a wincing smile "made it"

Sakura was so happy to see Naruto and hugged him "thank you!"

Naruto winced a bit from the hug "sakura-san can you let go please? My body hurts"

Sakura let go and gave a sheepish smile "sorry". She then heard a groan right next to her, turning she saw that it was the Oto nin. He was alive but his arms were badly burnt.

Naruto looked at the Oto nin and frowned "I grabbed his foot when I got to you"

"NARUTO!"

Naruto and Sakura looked towards Sasuke and saw that he had a dark grin on his face as he made his way to them.

Sasuke felt an urge to prove himself better than the blonde. To make Naruto eat the dirt and grumble under his foot. Before he could make it any closer he found himself frozen in place

"Possession complete"

Sasuke struggled to turn his head to see behind him. Once he could see behind him, he saw that it was Shikamaru using his clan jutsu "let go of me Nara!"

Shikamaru just kept his hand in the hand sign "you need to calm down Uchiha". Shikamaru was struggling to keep the jutsu up as Sasuke seemed to be slowly breaking out of it.

The rest of the Rookie nine surrounded Sasuke all glaring at the boy who almost killed one of his teammates. Kiba growled at Sasuke "hey you bastard! What the hell was that?! You nearly fried your teammate!"

Sasuke smiled again "she was in the way! What do I care about her if she is too weak to move"

Everyone was shocked at hearing this. They knew that Sasuke was arrogant but to just kill of a teammate because she didn't move was going to far

Shikamaru began to sweat as he was running out of strength to keep the jutsu up but he felt relief when a kunai with ninja wire flew by and wrapped around the Uchiha

Sasuke felt the wire and struggle even more "release me! You useless excuse of …."

He didn't get to finish his statement as Neji dropped down and hit him in the back of the neck, knocking him out.

Neji felt some of the foul chakra on his fingers and shook it to get it off. He turned to his green clad teammate "Lee! What are you doing here?"

Tenten then dropped down next to Neji "let it go Neji. From the looks of it, he helped out when they needed it". Tenten looked over to Naruto to see that he was in pain and his clothes were all ripped up "what happened to you"

Naruto smiled sheepishly "ran into trouble while in the forest"

The rest of the rookie nine all relaxed now that Sasuke had been knocked out. They all gathered around Naruto and Sakura, ignoring the Oto-nin.

That is until Dosu spoke up "hey!"

Everyone turned to Dosu who was still on the ground with Kin

Dosu knew that they could no longer fight right now, so he made the choice of leaving while they could "are you going to let us go? If you do you can have this" Dosu pulled out a scroll and placed it on the ground

Shikamaru thought of whether or not it was a good idea to let them go but after looking at his team who nodded at him he decided to let them go. "Fine take your teammate and go"

Dosu slowly made it closer and gently picked up Zaku, not taking his eyes off the rest of them. After he got Zaku back to Kin they left.

Neji turned to Lee "we are leaving"

Tenten sometimes hated the stuck up attitude Neji had and almost wished Naruto's pranking would have loosened him up a bit but nope. She just chose to agree with Neji as they already had the scrolls they needed and only stopped when Lee left suddenly.

Lee also chose that they should head out since he had saved his fellow nin.

After Tenten and Lee waved goodbye the three also left

The whole of rookie nine sans Sasuke who was still knocked out, looked at the scroll on the ground. Kiba was the one to speak "sooooo….who gets the scroll?"

Sakura wanted to say they should but she felt that she owed the two teams "one of you can have it for helping us when we needed it"

Ino turned to Sakura "you sure Sakura?"

Sakura nodded as she pulled out her scroll "yeah, we lost our original scroll but we got the other scroll so we can try and get another one when we can"

Naruto saw the scroll Sakura had and smiled "actually we can head to the tower now"

Everyone looked towards Naruto to see him dig through his weapons pouch and pull out the other scroll needed

Sakura looked wide eyed at the scroll in Naruto's hands "but how? Sasuke had the scroll. Did you get another one and not tell us?"

Naruto shook his head "no. when Sasuke put the scroll in his pouch I had a scroll switch places with it and then put it in my pouch"

Sakura felt a little mad at Naruto doing that but she didn't have the energy to argue. She was brought out of her thoughts when Ino tapped her on the shoulder

Ino looked at Sakura and spoke "come on Sakura. Let me fix your hair for you"

Sakura moved her hand to touch her hair and found that the left side was burned short. She didn't even notice it until now "ok Ino"

* * *

~20 minutes later~

The scroll that was left was a heavens scroll which was what the two teams need and they debated on who would take it. It was decided that team 8 would take it, since it was thanks to Shino using his Kikaichu beetles, to drain the Oto-nin's chakra over the night.

Ino had finished cutting Sakura's hair into an even short cut.

After that was done team 10 left to find a scroll for themselves and team 7 and 8 began to make their way towards the tower.

They had to go at a slow pace as Kiba was carrying an unconscious Sasuke and Hinata was supporting Naruto who still seemed to be in pain.

It had taken hours to make it but they finally made it by the end of the day and Naruto couldn't be happier right now "finally".

One thing that happened through the journey was an irate Sasuke waking up. Sasuke had made the journey more difficult as he kept glaring at Naruto but the blonde didn't even care, since he still felt his body burn.

They walked into the building and looked around finding a large message written on the wall. Naruto had just slumped against the wall as he let his team figure out what they need to do next

"Ano Naruto-kun? Are you alright?"

Naruto lifted his head to see Hinata looking at him with a worried look on her face. Naruto gave a tired smile "I will be when I get something to eat. Thanks Hinata-chan"

Hinata didn't believe him so she sat down next to him and they both just sat there watching both of their teams use the scrolls to summon Kuranai and Iruka

The two senseis gave the meaning of the message before Iruka looked towards Naruto who looked exhausted as he sat with Hinata. He felt that Naruto must have over exerted himself and gave told team 7 where everything was and where they would be staying until this part of the exam ended "also before I leave I want to say that I'm proud of you guys. You made it faster than I thought you would. Well done!"

Both teams felt proud at the praise and they went over to Hinata and Naruto so that the teams could get some food at the cafeteria

* * *

End of chapter

My fingers hurt ow

Well the team made it through the end of the second exam. I was originally going to have this split into two but I couldn't stop and got to this point.

Next chapter might be straight to the prelims or have a bit of a filler in the three days left till it ends

Also I wanted Naruto to make a hit on Orochimaru and spoiler, it's more than just a burn. I also wanted an interaction with Ino and Hinata so I made that little moment. I added Sakura hearing it as I wanted her to know what really happened

Also going back to old chapters making edits. re-inserted the original torture scene in "Punishment from three sides" check it out if ya want

Results of the poll:

Feral fox: 8 votes

Prowling Fox: 8 votes

Hunting Fox: 6 votes

Hunter's claw: 6 votes

Fox claw: 4 votes

Well it's a tie between Feral fox and Prowling fox. Poll will be up for 2 weeks before I pull it down so vote for the one ya want

Please read and review


	25. 2 out of 5 isn't bad

FR: hey everyone! Right now I'm hiding from Ino since she is still mad at me for all the things I'm putting her through so …

Ino: FANREADER! Where the hell are you!?

FR: *wimpers behind desk*

Ino: why does Hinata get happier moments?!

FR: *whispers* it kinda just comes out this way

Ino: there you are! *pulls out a mallet*

FR: *runs away* anyway guys hope you enjoy the chapter bye

* * *

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

(author comment) - not a lot of them

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, it's owned by one wiser than me

* * *

Chapter 25: 2 out of 5 isn't bad

Naruto was eating with his friends trying to stop the burning he was feeling but no matter how much he ate it would still hurt. He could only assume that whatever the snake creep did to him must be the problem. He still had one hand over his exposed stomach, since he didn't have a change of clothes so he had stayed in his torn clothes

"Hey Naruto? You ok man?"

Naruto looked up to see that Kiba was looking at him with a bit of concern in his eyes. Looking around him he saw that team 8 and Sakura were looking at him with a look of worry. Sasuke had left the second the group went to the cafeteria. Naruto gave a small smile to the group "I'm not sure guys. I feel like my body is being weighed down and my all muscles burn"

Hinata didn't like the idea that Naruto was in pain. She got up and walked around the table to place a hand on his shoulder "Naruto-kun. Lets go to the medical wing so they can check on you"

Naruto tensed a bit when he heard this as he rarely ever went to the hospital and when he did, it was usually with specific people such as Hana. he hated when he was told she was a veterinarian and Anko was in the room. She had been laughing for the entire visit and even when they left. Naruto looked to Hinata and shook his head "it's alright Hinata-chan. I'll feel better after I get some rest". He would have gone back to eating his meal but he felt a sudden chill go down his spine

"Naruto-kun. You should go get yourself checked out to make sure that you are actually fine"

Naruto turned back to look at Hinata and could swear there was a dark aura surrounding her. He couldn't even tell what the feeling she was emitting was but he knew that he shouldn't argue against her. Nodding his head he allowed Hinata to drag him away from the cafeteria.

Kiba was laughing hard as Akamaru wagged his tail.

Shino externally show no reaction but internally he was amused.

Sakura just smiled at the concern Hinata gave 'she is a lot more confident now. Especially when Naruto is around'

* * *

~Medical wing~

Hinata and Naruto walked into the nurses office, looking around to see if anyone would be here to help. "Hello? Is there anyone here that can help us?"

Naruto sat on one of the beds and looked at Hinata who was looking around the room "Hinata-chan, all I really need is to sleep a bit" Naruto began to lay down on the bed but shot back into a sitting position and winced when sharp pains were felt on his back

Hinata noticed this and walked up to Nartuo "Naruto-kun are you ok?!"

Naruto had one of his eyes closed from the wince and shook his head. He never liked lying and even less to Hinata "no ...something stings on my back"

Hinata grew more concerned. She had noticed that Naruto never removed his hand from his stomach but now he feels pain on his back. She acted out of sheer worry "Naruto-kun! Take off your jacket and shirt!"

Naruto began to blush at being told to go topless "um Hinata-chan… I don't think that's a good….."

"Now Naruto-kun!"

Naruto felt a bit of fear from how stern Hinata seemed to be. He slowly slipped out of his jacket and shirt, exposing his torso to her.

Hinata now realized what she had just said and grew several shades redder at not only demanding Naruto to strip but the fact that Naruto was so close to her and without a shirt on. She was close to fainting but she caught a glimpse of Naruto's back. 'Oh Naruto-kun' on Naruto's back were several splinters that had embedded themselves into his back and a few were bleeding. Hinata went into nursing mode and walked away to the medical cabinet "Naruto-kun please lay on your stomach please"

Naruto looked up at Hinata and tilted his head "why?"

Hinata pulled out a medical box and placed in on a table next to the cabinet before she opened it and began looking for something "you have some wood fragments in your back. I have to remove them so they don't get infected"

Naruto knew that he wouldn't get an infection since his body would destroy any infection or bacteria. In fact his body should have already pushed the wood out of his body and heal but it hasn't. He then chose to let Hinata do what she was going to do, so he slowly lowered himself so he would be laying on his stomach.

Hinata had found a pair of tweavers, disinfectant and a bandage for his whole back before she made her way to the bed Naruto was on and sat down next to him. "Ok Naruto-kun, just try and relax. I'm about to start removing them"

Naruto nodded his head and tried to relax his body. He felt her start removing the wood chunks from his back and winced a bit every time they were removed

"Sorry Naruto-kun" she said as she placed another piece in a small metal tray

Naruto just smiled at how kind Hinata was "it's fine Hinata-chan. They just sting a bit. I can handle it"

Hinata smiled 'I know you can Naruto-kun' and continued

After 25 minutes she had removed all of the splinters that she could and began to rub the disinfectant on Naruto's back. He would have said that he didn't need it but didn't want to anger Hinata again, besides he enjoyed the small touches she was doing.

Once Hinata finished putting the disinfectant, she placed the bandage on his back "ok Naruto-kun. You should be fine now"

Naruto slowly sat up as Hinata put away the disinfectant placed the tray in the sink to be cleansed and threw away the disposable plastic tweezers. Naruto looked towards Hinata "thanks a lot Hinata-chan. It's amazing how you seem use to this"

Hinata walked back to stand in front of Naruto "I'm use to helping heal wounds for my teammates and my mother always tells me to help out your friends."

Naruto's smile grew wider as he started to get up from the bed but the movement caused him to wince again from the pain in his stomach. "grr"

This caused Hinata to begin to worry again "Naruto-kun! What's wrong?!"

Naruto was wincing from the pain "I got hit on the stomach during the exam and it still hurts like hell"

Hinata knelt down to be level with his stomach. Placing her hands over his she slowly moved them out of the way "let me see"

Naruto moved his hands and let her examine him

Hinata noticed that there were five kanjis on his stomach and she felt worried about this "Naruto-kun….I think someone placed some sort of seal on you". Hinata wasn't a master at seals but she has seen a fair amount of them, so she knew what a seal placed on the body would look like. She unfortunately didn't know anything about what this seal might do or how to remove it but she examined it as best she could, sliding her fingers from one kanji to the next.

Naruto felt a chill as he felt Hinata examine the seal. He could feel her soft delicate fingers run across his skin in a slow motion. This gesture caused his instincts to rise in him. He could feel the soft skin of her fingers touch him, he could smell her unique scent coming off her. He looked down and thought how beautiful she was. His instincts told him that she was important to him, that he needed to protect her, to stay with her. He had only felt this feeling before in a smaller amount and it was for two people. Right now it was strong, compelling, and he could tell that it was still for the same two people as the other person flashed in his mind. The girl right in front of him and the girl he wishes to be friends with again. "...Hinata"

Hinata looked up and immediately blushed hard as she not only realize what she was doing but also how close Naruto's face was to hers. He was inches away from her, she could see he was breathing slightly heavier as she looked into his eyes. His beautiful azure blue eyes that seemed to shine as they looked at her. "Naruto…"

Hinata's hand was no longer just pressing fingers on the seal. It slowly grew closer until her palm was slowly rubbing Naruto's abs causing Naruto's hand to go over hers. She aimlessly thought that his hands were larger than hers, and that they were smooth and soft yet strong and firm.

Both didn't realize that they were slowly growing closer to each other. That they could feel each other's breath on them, that their lips were almost touching. That their eyes were slowly closing

The door to the room suddenly opened snapping Hinata out of what she was doing. With a small "eep" she stood straight up with a massive blush on her face and turned to see who it was

The nurse was looking at a clipboard as she walked in. she looked up to see two people looking at her "hello. Is there something I can help you with something?" she said with a smile

Hinata shook her head rapidly "no no no no w-we a-are fine!"

Naruto shook his head as if he was in a trance and looked around until his eyes landed on the nurse who was standing by the doorway "uh ...no we're fine" Naruto stood up from the bed, still in pain but with a little more energy "She just finished helping me out"

When Hinata heard this, the last few minutes flowed into her mind. Her blush grew to new levels and she did what she normally would have done, she fainted

Naruto was quick enough to catch her before she landed on the floor "hey Hinata-chan! Are you ok? Hinata-chan?". Naruto turned to the nurse and gave a nervous chuckle "I think she needs to rest a bit".

He placed her in the opposite bed so she could sleep, grabbed his shirt and jacket before he looked at them, realizing that his shirt was now useless. The shirt was missing it's lower half and what was left was filled with rips and holes. His jacket was almost as bad, it was missing a sleeve, half the collar was gone and there was a tear on the back of it. Putting on the jacket, he tossed the shirt over his shoulder so he could throw it away later. He made his way out into the hallway and walked towards the bathroom. Once he made it he made sure he was alone, walked into a stall, sat down on the toilet and immediately changed color as he gripped his head in panic "what the hell did I almost do!?" he thought back to his interaction with Hinata "it was like I was on autopilot and I almost ki ...ki ...ki! I almost kissed her!". Naruto was going crazy as he began pulling his hair so hard, he almost ripped it out. Naruto chose that he needed to calm down so he started to take a deep breath to try and get his nerves to calm down and the blush to lower. "Ok think. What happened? She helped me with the splinters, put on the disinfectant, placed a bandage, I got up but had to sit back down because my stomach still hurt and she checked it before she said…..". Naruto jumped up and moved out of the stall to look into the mirror. There he saw the five kanji marks on his stomach "what the hell?! Is that what that snake-teme did to me?" he then realized something "is this why my body hurts? Why I can't hear Rama-tou-chan anymore?! I need to get rid of this thing!" he pulled his shirt off his shoulder before tearing it and wrapping it around his stomach to hide the seal

Naruto began to walk fast around the building trying to find Iruka or any other chunin or jonin so he could go see the hokage. He felt that the hokage would be his best bet in removing the seal so he needed to talk to him immediately.

* * *

~20 minutes Chunin/Jonin break room~

Iruka was in the middle of having a conversation with the Kuranai and Kakashi, since their teams have made it through this part of the exam, discussing the progress of his former students "so Kiba still has settled down in his overconfidence? How so?"

Kuranai put down her cup of tea and looked at Iruka "from what I know about his academy days, he was one of the best taijutsu users in his graduating year so it would make sense that he would consider himself one of the best but Hinata has been improving in her fighting and confidence so she has been giving Kiba a harder time in the spars. In this he was slowly realizing that he wasn't unbeatable when Hinata had beaten him in a spar once. After that he toned down his small superiority attitude he had"

Iruka nodded his head in understanding "so Hinata has been improving just as much"

Kuranai couldn't help the smile from appearing on her face "she has been gaining confidence from her extra training sessions"

Iruka quirked a brow "you've been giving her extra training sessions?"

Kuranai gently shook her head in amusement "no. she has been training with your student Kakashi-senpai: Naruto-san"

Kakashi looked over his book with a small look of interest "oh really? I didn't know he was training with the hyuga girl. It would explain how he seems to keep coming up with new ways in fighting. Fighting a user of the gentle fist would force someone to become creative" Kakashi closed his book and fully entered to conversation

Kuranai was happy to see Kakashi put away his little smut book. She already tried getting him to get rid of it but to no avail "I think that it was more for her benefit than his own. Kiba and Shino had told me that she would always say something about what they did during training. He would do some sort of move that she has never seen before and she would have to learn to react differently than she normally would. She started to change to hyuga style little by little."

Kakashi chuckled when he heard this "he has that sort of effect on people. I am not entirely sure how he did it but after having an argument with Sakura-chan, she started to take her physical training more seriously. She started training not only with the team but also with Haku-san, in fact she seems to be spending more time with Haku-san now. She no longer fawns over Sasuke-kun"

Iruka's eyes widened at this as he still remembered how much Sakura would go crazy for anything that had to do with Sasuke but now he was hearing that she had gotten out of it "well how far has he….."

"Iruka-sensei!"

The three senseis looked towards the door to see the very boy they were talking. "Naruto?!"

Naruto turned to look at the three and felt some relief after looking fro Iruka for all that time "Iruka-sensei! Kakashi-sensei! I need your help!"

Both Iruka and Kakashi got up from the couch and went to the boy. Iruka asked the question while kakashi lazily stood behind him "what is it Naruto-kun?"

Naruto took a breath as he pulled off the shirt that was wrapped around his stomach. Both senseis looked at the kanji on the stomach with a critical eye "I need help removing this and I want to ask Hokage-jiji if he could do it"

Kakashi gained a serious look as he saw this "Naruto who gave you this"

Naruto then explained what had happened in the forest of death. Iruka, Kakashi and Kuranai who had joined the group midway were shocked to hear one of the traitorous Sanin. Kakashi grew concerned when he heard that Sasuke had gained something from the snake "Naruto! Where is Sasuke right now?!"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders "I dunno. Maybe in our room since he left right after we arrived"

Kakashi nodded and turned to Kuranai "Kuranai, go get the hokage and bring him here. Once he helps Naruto come find me. I'm going to go find Sasuke. For obvious reasons, I don't trust whatever it was that Orochimaru gave him" he then turned to Iruka "Iruka stay with Naruto. Make sure nothing happens and find an area they can use for some privacy" both nodded agreeing with how this should be handled

Iruka nodded as the others **shunsined **away. He looked at Naruto and sighed in exasperation "why can't anything be simple when it involves you?"

Naruto looked at Iruka and smiled sheepishly "I wish I knew"

* * *

~30 minutes later~

Hiruzen and Naruto were standing in the middle of an empty guestroom as Hiruzen was looking at the seal on Naruto's stomach with a critical eye. He was surprised to see Kuranai appear in his office without any previous appointment but after being told a summary on what had happened he let it slide due to the urgency of the situation. "Hmm this is an interesting seal"

Naruto felt nervous at the way the Hokage said this "does that mean you can't remove it?!" he began to panic a bit when he said this. "What does it do and how can we remove it!?"

Hiruzen stood back up and lifted his hand to stop Naruto from panicking so much "calm yourself Naruto. This seal is meant to be a crude addition to the 8 Trigram seal that was placed on you to seal up the kyuubi. From what I can tell it should have rebounded any of the kyuubi's chakra back into the yondaime's seal by using your own chakra. Without the yondaime's seal there anymore, it is mainly a blocker which could be a bad thing."

Naruto was really starting to panic at this "why jiji?"

Hiruzen placed his hand on his chin in thought "the yondaime's seal was designed to convert the kyuubi chakra into your own chakra. This would have used your own chakra to bounce the kyuubi's chakra back to him instead of converting it but without the original seal there all this is doing is not only pulling it in it is stockpiling it. Once it is released a good burst of chakra could happen"

"So what can we do?"

"It would be best to remove the seal as soon as possible so the burst would be as small as possible. Unfortunately I cannot remove it entirely ..." Hiruzen saw the distraught look on the boy's face and placed a hand on his shoulder "I said 'entirely'. I can remove two of the five but I am unable to it entirely"

Naruto looked up in hope "do it Jiji!"

Hiruzen could only shake his head "why the rush Naruto-kun?"

Naruto looked at his stomach in sadness "I can't hear him anymore"

Hiruzen gave a deep sigh "alright Naruto" he then pulled up his sleeve and two kanji appeared. One on his index finger and another on his ring finger "Ok Naruto brace yourself. This will hurt a bit"

Naruto nodded and braced his legs and muscles "do it"

Hiruzen thrusted his hand onto Naruto's stomach, hitting the mark on two of the five kanjis.

Naruto was lifted off his feet from the blow and felt the air leave his body. Once the hokage removed his hand Naruto fell to his knees clutching his stomach "*cough damn *cough* you weren't kidding * cough cough*"

Hiruzen felt a big burst of chakra come out from the boy and was glad he had set up seals in the room to prevent anyone from noticing anything. He knelt down and placed a hand on the boys shoulder "well Naruto? Any difference?"

Naruto took a minute to catch his breath before he focused on how his body felt. He felt better, his body didn't burn as much anymore, he felt some strength come back and he felt that his wounds start to heal faster. He prayed as he did one last thing, he closed his eyes 'Rama-tou-chan?...Are you there?'

"...**hey kit"**

Naruto grew a smile that could split his face. He could hear Kurama again. Although it came in a little muffled and quieter but he could hear him 'thank kami your there'

"**You can't get rid of me that easily kit. But let's not have anymore seals slapped on us, got it?"**

Naruto closed his eyes in contentment 'got it'. He got back to his feet and looked at the hokage "thanks for do that Hokage-jiji" he then looked at his stomach to see that three of the kanjis were still there "how do we get rid of the other ones"

Hiruzen was glad to see the boy feeling better "well I know someone that would be able to remove the rest of the seal and fortunately for you, I have already summoned him back to the village. He should be here by the end of the second exam, so when he arrives I will send him to you"

Naruto smiled as he bowed to Hiruzen "thank you Hokage-sama"

Hiruzen wished he had a camera right now as this was the only time he has gotten full honorable respect from the boy and he wanted to have something to remind him that it happened. The last time he received it from Naruto was when the boy wanted something but this was out of gratitude "your welcome Naruto. Now you should get some rest, I have to check on Sasuke-kun now about that little event that had happened"

"Oh hey can I get someone to pick up another set of clothes for me from my place?" he asked as he lifted up his sash to show that it was also shredded.

Hiruzen sighed in exasperation "very well I will ask Iruka to go pick one up fro you. You really should learn to have a storage scroll with another set of clothing"

Naruto chuckled sheepishly and nodded "yeah, I really should". Both made their way out of the room and towards their destination.

Naruto went to the room meant for team 7 and Hiruzen went to find Kakashi and Sasuke as thoughts ran through his mind 'I need to recall Anko and her team immediately. We now know that Orochimaru is here and that he has an interest in Sasuke so we will need a guard team for him. There is more going on here but I am not sure what it is. Lets hope our hand is better than his this time'

* * *

~team 7 guestroom~

Naruto walked into the room and was glad to see that it was empty. He didn't know where Sakura or Sasuke was but right now he didn't really care. He made his way to one of the three beds and plopped down. He wanted to enter his mindscape but as hard as he tried he was unable to enter. He grumbled at this and gave a mental promise that he would hurt the snake-teme someday for doing this to him

'Hey Rama-tou-chan?'

"**...yeah kit"**

'Isn't there a way for you to remove the stupid seal yourself? Didn't you do it for the yondaime's seal?'

"**... I wasn't the one that removed it"**

'Huh? Then who did?'

"**...when this seal is removed, I will show you who."**

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at this but just let it go. Right now he was just glad that Kurama was still here. He chose now to get some sleep.

* * *

~unknown location~

Danzo stood in front of a team of his Root agents with a smile on his face "are you all prepared to do your part in this and give your lives to achieve our goals?"

All agents stood straight and gave their answer

"Yes sir Danzo-sama"

Danzo smiled as he walked away with the agents following him diligently

* * *

End of chapter

Where did this come from? Oh right from my head.

That moment with Hinata and Naruto was added because I feel like Hinata hasn't had much screen time as Ino and as I was writing it, that scene just came

This chapter is shorter since not much else can happen. Next chapter will be the start of the prelims. I feel like I should switch some of the fights around but if I do I will be keeping a few the same since the fights were epic and can't really improve on them. Spoiler though one fight will still happen like canon but I plan on changing a few things about it.

Poll results

Prowling fox - 16 votes

Feral fox - 12 votes

Hunting Fox - 11 votes

Hunters claw - 7 votes

Fox claw - 6 votes

Based on how the voting is going I think I might just pull the poll off by next week or the weekend either way it seems that the winner is becoming clear

Please read and review


	26. Prelims part 1

FR: Ok so like I told you Ino. I have a plan for you

Ino: hmph you better

FR: duh I had this in my head for a while so just be patient ok

Ino: fine

Hinata: um what exactly is the plan?

Ino: good question

FR: sorry but that's a secret…...now can one of you untie me please?

Ino: no

FR: *sigh* fine I'll just remain captive until you see the plan. Anyway guys enjoy the story

* * *

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

(author comment) - not a lot of them

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, it's owned by one wiser than me

* * *

Chapter 26: Prelims part 1

Naruto was standing in front of a Kurama sized bowl of Chicken ramen. NAruto couldn't help but drool at the idea of jumping in and eating all of it with no remorse. Getting a running start, he jumped into the air, ready to do a swan dive into the holy broth but before he made contact, he heard a loud Ping that startled him. Naruto's head bolted up from the sound and cursed at the fact that it was all a dream. Naruto was hoping to sleep more but unfortunately, he heard the PA system act up again

{all teams that have passed the second part of the exams please make your way to the arena for an important announcements}

Naruto groaned at this as he got up from his bed. It was the middle of the afternoon and he was feeling lousy. His body wasn't in pain or anything but it felt like his skin was on too tight and it was just plain uncomfortable. As he was making his way to the arena he heard his name being called

"Hey Naruto-kun!"

Turning around, he saw running towards him a glasses wearing red haired girl. She wore a black shirt sleeved shirt covered by a mesh shirt. Over this she wore an olive green jacket that shown some wear and tear. She also wore black shinobi pants that cut off below the knee and black sandals. Her hitai-ate was missing the metal plating that would show what village she was from, so she wore the cloth as if it was a bandana. This was Karin, a girl one of his clones had saved from being attacked by a bear. A bear that Naruto knew as Kuma-san. Naruto's clone had stopped Kuma-san from killing the girl by staring into its eyes and amazingly bopping it in the nose. Naruto promised the bear that if it behaved he would pay back the food that he stole the last time and then some. Kuma-san reluctantly relented and let him go but not without swiping at Naruto a few times which earned him a hard fist to the head

Naruto smiled at the girl "Hey Karin-chan. What are you doing here?"

Karin stopped running when she caught up with him and they began to walk towards the arena "I asked hokage-sama if I could stay since my team was killed and I had something important to ask him later when he had the time. He seemed really busy these last few days so I don't think I will be able to ask him until the exams are over"

"Is one of those things about our name?" Naruto said with a bit of apprehension

Karin nodded her head "yeah. I just want to know why you were never told about our clan!" she said as she let out some anger at the end

Naruto nodded his head as he also wanted to know but withheld his anger "hey we don't know if I really am from your clan. Remember you said Uzumaki's area all red heads and I don't think I dyed my hair at all in my life. He could have just given me the name to fill it in"

Karin shook her head "maybe but I still think that you should have known the origin of the name"

Naruto chuckled a bit sheepishly at this "well uh I wasn't really the best student so for all I know it was taught but I never paid attention" 'or I was kicked out before I could learn it'

Both arrived at the arena and each went into different directions. Karin went to the side so she would be out of the way and Naruto went to his team where he noticed a deep scowl on Sasuke's face. Naruto had heard that they had to put a seal on him to subdue what the snake - teme placed on him. He also heard that it wasn't an easy thing to do since Sasuke fought against them every single step of it. It was only the threat of disqualification that made Sasuke comply to it.

Sasuke was looking around for someone. He was looking for the Grass Kunoichi that Orochimaru disguised as but much to his chagrin, she wasn't there 'damn it, looks like he's not here!

Sakura gave a small wave at Naruto as he walked up "hey your almost late. Hokage-sama is about to start talking"

Naruto rubbed his head sheepishly "sorry I was in the middle of taking a nap"

Sakura just sighed in exasperation

As Team 7 listened to the hokage begin his speech on how the chunin exams were used as a replacement for was, Naruto focused on the other participants. He could see that all the rookies had made it as well as Team 9, the Oto team, the Suna and that guy Kabuto's team. Naruto was glad to see that his friends had made it through the forest of death. As his eyes went through the teams his eyes stopped at Hinata and he could help but blush hard, thinking of what the two had almost done in the nurse's office. Shaking his head he scanned the rest of them and his eyes stopped at Ino. he wanted to walk up to her again and apologize for the fight that they had but after how Ino yelled at him, he felt that she wouldn't want anything to do with him and it hurt his heart thinking about it. He finished scanning the other participants and his mind was stuck on two of the other genin.

The first one was Gaara. Naruto knew that he had to be wary of the red head. After their first meeting, he told himself that he would steer clear of him, and after what his clones experienced in the forest of death, he was even more determined to stay away.

The next person was Kabuto. After his fight with Orochimaru, Naruto was wary of the smell of snakes. He still would trust Anko with his life but anyone else with the smell will never have his trust.

Naruto was brought out of his thoughts when it was stated that there would be preliminaries and if anyone wanted to pull out of it they needed to speak up. Naruto looked around to see if any of his friends would back out but much to his relief the only one that did was Kabuto who stated that he wouldn't be able to continue due to injury and exhaustion. Naruto could tell it was a lie and he glared at the retreating form of Kabuto

The Hokage was watching Kabuto leave and in the corner of his eye he saw Naruto glaring at the silver haired boy. 'So there is something up with the boy. I will have an Anbu squad tail him. It is unfortunate that I had to pull Anko off observation before she could discover anything but I need her here as a potential guard for Sasuke'

A chunin came up to walk next to the hokage and began to speak to the genin "*cough* Hokage-sama *cough* may I begin these prelims?"

The hokage nodded his head before he looked towards the genin and smiled "one last thing I must say is good luck and I hope to see your potential" he then went to one side of the Observation platform so he could watch the coming fights.

The chunin then looked to the genin "alright everyone *cough cough* my name is Hayate Gekko and for this part, we will be having *cough* a one on one match. The fighters will be displayed on the big screen over there" he said pointing at a large screen that was lowering right above the massive stone structure in the form of the Tiger hand seal

The screen began to pull up the names of all the contestants in yellow as Hayate continued to speak as he coughed into his fist "*cough cough* the screen will randomly choose who will fight who and the winner will move on to the finals" the screen then randomly went through the names getting everyone to watch the screen in anticipation. After a few seconds of name rotations it landed on two names

Sasuke Uchiha Vs Zaku Abumi

Hayate looked at the names then turned to the genin "ok *cough* everyone that isn't fighting please move to the observation platforms."

As most of them went to the platform Dosu stood next to Zaku, with a hand on his shoulder, as he whispered into his ear "Zaku, throw the match. If he did get the curse mark from Orochimaru-sama, than you don't stand a chance in winning"

Naruto could hear what was being said from Dosu thanks to his enhanced hearing 'curse mark? Is that what that Snake gave him? Must be what Hokage-jiji had to handle with the teme' Naruto looked around to see if anyone else heard it but the only one who would have possibly heard it as well was Kiba and Akamaru, unfortunately they seemed to be in the middle of a conversation and didn't catch it

Zaku who had no real sense of subtlety screamed back "Hell no! I'm going to prove to him that we are valuable and the best way to do it is to beat this punk into the ground!"

Dosu shook his head but still whispered "idiot! You can't use your arms! They haven't healed from the Katon you got hit with in the forest! If you go into this you will lose!"

True enough both of Zaku's arms were useless right now as they were bandaged heavily and put in slings. Zaku didn't care, thinking he could still win without them. Shrugging off Dosu's hand he yelled back "fuck off! I don't need them to beat this konoha scum!"

Dosu shook his head and walked away, knowing that his teammate would lose this fight.

Hayate, who stood in between the two fighters looked at each and brought up his hand "*cough* are you two ready?" Zaku scowled at the Uchiha while Sasuke only smirked. Hayate took this as a yes, dropped his hand in a slicing motion "Hajime" and jumped back to allow them to start

* * *

~Sasuke vs Zaku~

Zaku was the first one to move charging in a mad dash towards Sasuke 'I can kill this trash easily! I'll show them that I have more value then all of them!'

Sasuke smirked as he ducked under a kick before jumping back from a follow up kick "your weak. Someone like you is nothing but a nuisance"

Zaku growled when he heard this charging at the Uchiha, kicking randomly now with no luck "shut the fuck up! I'll show you! Your nothing! And I'll prove it!"

Sasuke just kept dodging with an arrogant smirk on his face. He felt himself superior as he hadn't even activated his sharingan. Sasuke felt like it was time to act so while ducking under another feral roundhouse, Sasuke swept his foot on Zaku's only leg that was on the ground which got Zaku to begin falling to the ground. Twisting on his foot Sasuke kicked Zaku away from him and watched as Zaku roll on the ground

Once Zaku stopped rolling, he quickly got to his feet and charged again "that was just a lucky shot! It won't happen again!"

As Sasuke kept dodging the kicks Zakue threw at him, he began to enjoy the desperation that Zaku was giving as he. It was desperation one got when fighting a superior opponent 'only a loser would be like this.' this thought brought up another person into his mind. Someone that he wanted to see in this desperate state as well 'the dobe should be like this against me. He is nothing but a clanless loser that's beneath me'. Sasuke punched Zaku hard in the face making the Oto nin take a few steps back, while in his mind he could see Naruto stand tall over him after one of their spars 'yet there he is! Looking down on me like he's better than me!'. Sasuke followed with a flying spin kick 'no one is better than an Uchiha!' Sasuke gave an uppercut that took Zaku off his feet a bit.

Zaku didn't get a chance to recover as Sasuke moved forward and kicked him high into the air.

Sasuke leapt after Zaku and was putting in chakra into his limbs to finish it off as he positioned himself to be directly under Zaku, shadowing Zaku's body position a bit. Subconsciously he began activating the curse seal which caused a flame pattern to slide up his neck. After it reached his chin he gripped his shoulder in pain 'shit I can't use the stupid seal! Thanks to the old man and Kakashi it burns more when I use it. I need to find a way to unseal it ...but for this weakling I won't need it'. Pushing the curse seal back he continued his assault on the airborn Zaku

Anko, Hiruzen, Kakashi and Naruto noticed the black flame patterns growing and all of them scowled at it for their own reasons

Anko because she hated the curse mark and the fact that the kid was activating it did not sit well with her

Kakashi and Hiruzen were not happy on how willingly the boy seemed to want the power it gives.

Naruto scowled at this since it felt fowl, like it was negativity itself to a small degree. He also hated anything that had to do with the snake-teme 'whatever that curse mark thing is, I'm glad I don't have it'

They all resumed watching the fight as Sasuke attacked

Sasuke pressed his hand on Zaku's back and made his move. Using his hand as a bit of leverage Sasuke kicked Zaku in his side

Zaku felt a few of his ribs crack from the impact since he couldn't use his arms to block the blow "you fucker! I'll kill you"

Sasuke just smirked more as he pushed his leg a bit more, in a way that would push Zaku down further. Shifting a bit Sasuke threw a left backhanded fist into Zaku's face and a loud *crack* was heard signifying that the nose had broken. Using the momentum of the backhand, Sasuke threw a right hook into Zaku's stomach. Now that Zaku was closing in on the ground Sasuke flowed with the hook, flipping in the air Sasuke delivered an ax kick into Zaku's stomach right as he impacted on the ground cause the floor to crack a bit from the force of it "**Lions Barrage**"

Zaku coughed up blood from all the hits he had taken but the worst one was the kick he received as it also hit his arms

Sasuke tumbled off Zaku to land face down on the ground. 'Damn my body couldn't handle the move. Heh at least he should be out of the fight now'

Zaku was in agony from not only the injuries on his arms but from the many fractures he was now sporting. It was through sheer anger that kept him conscious' NO I WILL NOT LOSE!'. Zaku gritted his teeth as he slowly placed himself on his stomach and very slowly got up on his feet. He could feel the pain in his ribs and arms but right now he didn't care "I'LL KILL YOU". he slowly lifted his arms into the air pointing them at the downed Sasuke, ignoring the pain he could feel in them

Dosu's eye widened at this but did nothing to stop him. 'Whatever happens is his own fault'

Rin didn't care and only watched on to see what happens

Naruto could feel the KI coming of Zaku and could tell that he has lost all sense. He wondered if he should say something but turning his head towards Kakashi he saw that his sensei didn't seem all concerned about Sasuke. And more concerned about what would happen to Zaku.

Kakashi heard about the burns the kid received and based on how Zaku was fighting he realized that right now his arms are useless in anything including jutsu. Depending on the severity of the injury and the jutsu used it could backfire in a very bad way. Turning to the other senseis he spoke "I would suggest you get your genin to cover their eyes"

Asuma, Kurenai and Guy looked at him with a serious look and nodded before speaking to each of their genins to close their eyes and as a precaution cover their ears.

Cover his eyes and ears but could still hear some of what was around him 'Rama-tou-chan, a little help in my hearing please'

"**Try and shift the chakra in your ears away from them. The problem is that you always have chakra flowing through them"**

Naruto complied with what Kurama said and shifted his chakra as best he can but found it to be difficult since the seal on his stomach was throwing his skills for a loop. He got it to work and his hearing lessened to the point where everything was muffed

Zaku gave a mad grin as he activated his jutsu "**Zankūkyokuha!"** Zaku could feel the chakra needed for the move, shift into his arms but it didn't activate the way he wanted. Instead the sheer force caused both his arms to explode, pushing him back, spraying blood everywhere and leaving nothing but dripping bloody stumps. So in shock by what happened Zaku immediately fainted from this

Hayate jumped down and called for a medical team to come and take Zaku away

Sasuke laid there watching in morbid fascination at what he had just seen. So focused on the prone form of Zaku leaving on a stretcher he barely heard himself being declared the winner

"Winner Sasuke Uchiha"

* * *

Everyone had kept their eyes closed and ears covered so no one really saw what happened.

The only ones that witnessed it was the chunin, Jonin, the hokage and Karin who had not gotten the warning before hand.

Karin felt a little sick at seeing this and sat down in the corner trying not to vomit.

Naruto may not have seen what happened but his hearing was still good enough to hear a muffled boom and the smell of blood was still in the air

Sasuke made his way up to the observation platform to see everyone covering their ears and closing their eyes. He quirked an eyebrow and looked towards Kakashi who just shook his head signifying not to ask but Sasuke had a feeling it was to not see what he had seen. He went to be with his team and sat down. Was he sat he looked towards Naruto and scowled, but much to his surprise Naruto turned his head to look at him, while still blocking everything out. Sasuke just looked away in anger

After a few more minutes of waiting, a cleanup crew had removed the blood from the ground and signaled that it was all clear. The jonin senseis taped their genin on the shoulders to allow them to see again. Most were confused about why they had to do that but some figured that it was something gruesome, namely Neji, Naruto and Shikamaru

Hayate coughed again, whether it was to get everyone's attention or because he needed to was unclear but everyone looked to him "alright *cough cough* now that the first match is done, let's move onto the second match". Everyone looked towards the screen to see who would fight who.

Temari vs Kiba

Kiba jumped up in joy "hell yeah. This is going to be fun!" Kiba jumped over the railing to land onto the fighting floor

Temari smirked thinking that the boy was nothing but a simpleton 'this should be an easy fight'. She also jumped over the railing but instead of landing hard on the ground, she came to a slow stop with a bit of wind around her feet.

Naruto looked down at this and felt the need to say something "Hey Kiba!"

Kiba looked up to Naruto with a confused look "whats up?!"

Naruto's eyes shifted from Kiba to Temari and back "fight her seriously! She isn't someone you want to mess with!". 'If she is on Gaara's team, than she must be strong'

Kiba would have normally passed this off but coming from Naruto, who he knew had improved a lot thanks to Hinata telling them about it, he figured he should go all out. "Got it! I'm winning this fight!'

Temari just scoffed at this "hah! Like this dog boy could even think about beating me"

Kiba turned to face Temari and growled. Walking to his position he spoke quietly to Akamaru who was still in his jacket "ok Akamaru, get ready cause I think we are going to have to start with using that"

Akamaru looked up in curiosity *ARF?*

"Because if Naruto is telling me to be serious. Than I should be serious." Back in the academy Kiba had learned to trust Naruto about some things since when Naruto had a gut feeling about something it was usually right.

Akamaru agreed with this and jumped out of his jacket to stand next to Kiba

Hayate stood between the two while lifting his hand "contestants ready?". Both nodded as they got ready. "*cough* Hajime" and jumped back

* * *

~Kiba vs Temari~

Kiba immediately pulled out a food pill and tossed it to Akamaru. Akamaru jumped in the air to catch the pill. Kiba smirked as Akamaru began to change color from white to brick red "you ready?! Well let's go" Kiba put his hands in a hand sign "**Ninja art: Beast Mimicry All fours jutsu! Man Beast Clone!**". Kiba was then shrouded with a bit of chakra as he dropped to all fours in a feral stance while Akamaru turned into copy of Kiba

Temari was stunned to see what Kiba had done and with his ninken partner. 'This might be a bit harder than I thought'. She reached over her shoulder and pull off the big metal bar she had attached to her back 'but lets see if he is good enough to get ME serious'

Kiba snarled at Temari "lets go Akamaru!". Both Akamaru and Kiba charged on all fours in a zigzag pattern making sure not to get in each other's way before jumping in the air

Temari kept her eyes on Kiba, thinking that if she could take him out, then the fight would be over. She was surprised at the speed that Kiba had as they both charged at her. Seeing them jump in the air she brought up the bar and blocked the claw strikes aimed at her. She was even more surprised at the force behind the strike 'ok he has some strength but he is still outmatched'

Kiba and Akamaru were pushed back as Temari swung the bar at them. Flipping in the air both tried the same tactic but this time they tried a pincer attack with Kiba on Temari's right and Akamaru to her left

Temari almost lost sight of Kiba but still kept her eye on him. Turning to Kiba she swung the bar at him much to his shock and hit him in the face hard, launching him away. Unfortunately Temari was not fast enough to dodge the punched aimed at her to look behind her she felt the fist impact on her left cheek 'damn it, I was careless'. The hit pushed her back a bit but she regained her footing to glare at the pup mad man.

Kiba got up from the ground with a bit of blood coming from his mouth "ok nice hit but it won't win you this fight"

Temari was hoping that the hit would have knocked him out but apparently his head was hard enough to endure. She put the bar at her side and flipped it open showing one violet circle "ok I will admit that you have some skill, but not enough to win"

Kiba rejoined Akamaru as both stared at the fan 'so it's a fan. Don't know what she can do with it but we shouldn't give her a chance to use it'. "Again!" Kiba and Akamaru charged again,going for another pincer attack

Temari smirked as she still kept an eye on Kiba. When she channeled the chakra needed and he was close enough, she swung the fan to blow Kiba off course

Kiba was surprised that he flew off in another direction that he didn't catch himself, and hit the ground in a rolling tumble

Twirling with the swing, Temari blocked Akamaru's strike. Adding a bit of strength and chakra she swung the fan to throw Akamaru off she added wind chakra to it, to blow Akamaru further away and into the wall.

Akamaru let out a yelp from the impact and slid down before shaking his head and getting back up

Kiba made his way to Akamaru "ok Akamaru time to hit her hard! You ready?!"

Akamaru nodded, knowing what his partner wanted to do

Kiba grinned "then here we go!" running towards Temari they began "**Fang over Fang"**

Temari's eyes widened at the sudden drill attack that was coming her way. Instinct told he better to dodge then block so she jumps out of the way of the two drill attacks. She doesn't get the chance to stop as the drills split from each other and start charging at her from different angle "shit!"

Kankuro looked a bit worried at the prospect of Temari possibly losing this fight as she continued to dodge without a chance of fighting back

Naruto kept his eyes on the fight until Sakura tapped him on the shoulder, turning he looked at Sakura who looked a little nervous "whats up Sakura?"

Sakura looked from Naruto to the fight "I actually wanted to ask you this for a while and seeing Kiba fight made me more curious. Did you learn your style from an Inuzuka?"

Naruto looked back down to the fight before giving Sakura a confused look. It took him a second to realize how she might have gotten to that conclusion. Both his fighting style and the Inuzuka fighting style are similar but are fundamentally different "no I didn't . it's a style I made up that works best. It does seem a bit like Kiba's style but it moves differently"

Sakura was a bit more curious about it "what do call it than?

Naruto turned to Sakura "I like to call it…"

They were interrupted but a yell of pain. Looking back they saw that Temari had been hit in the back

Temari was having trouble keeping up with the two. The one time that they stopped to take a small break from the attack was very short lived and she began dodging again. One attack was coming at her and she knew that her footing was off and she wouldn't be able to jump, so putting her fan in front of her she braced herself. The attack pushed her back and her feet were dragging across the floor. So focused on the attack in front of her that she didn't see the second drill coming from behind. She felt the impact hit her hard as she was flung across the arena to crash land on the other side.

Kiba and Akamaru stopped their attack to see if she was down for the count. Kiba hoped that she was because he had been putting a lot of chakra to keep the attack going. It had paid off as he and Akamaru had gotten a few good hits in but he was starting to run low 'damn she is good at dodging. But that last one should have brought her down'.

Everyone was stunned to see Temari getting up. She had cuts all over her body, she was bleeding from her head and her clothes were in tatters.

Temari glared at Kiba and Akamaru 'damn it! He wouldn't let up! Heh I hate to admit it but that move is hard for me to counter' she took a deep breath and calmed herself. She was glad that Kiba had paused his attack 'but he made a mistake. He gave me this time to finish this' Temari swung open her fan to the fullest, showing three violet circles on the fan, and in an arcing motion she sent a massive gust of wind towards both Akamaru and Kiba

Kiba and Akamaru weren't ready for this and were both launched back. Kiba was able to land on the wall with his feet but Akamaru was not so fortunate as he was flopping around in the air and impacted the wall hard enough to dispel the clone jutsu and knock him out "AKAMARU!". Kiba dropped to the ground and ran to his ninken partner. He checked on him and gave a sigh of relief that Akamaru was just knocked out with a bit of bruising. Turning to Temari, he wanted to pay her back for what she did but he knew that he had lost his advantage in this fight. He wanted to keep going but he knew that he was now in a losing fight. They were both exhausted but for different reasons. She had been dodging most of the fight since he wouldn't stop the assault. She was tired from dodging and the few damaging hits she took and he was tired because of assaulting nonstop. She had more chakra and the ability to end him. He hated what he was about to do but he had no choice, his partner was down and he wouldn't last much longer. With a tired sigh he raised his hand "I forfeit"

The rest of the rookie nine were shocked to hear that one of the most stubborn of the group had given up.

Both Hinata and Shino were shocked at this but Kurenai nodded her head in approval 'he knew it was a losing battle now. Well done Kiba'

Temari was glad for this as she was still in pain from that last hit in the back. She gave a half smile at Kiba "not bad, I was almost worried I would lose but you gave me a good fight"

Kiba gave a tired smile "well from that last move, I would say it was a good thing I didn't give you a chance to use it earlier"

Hayate dropped down to the floor and pointed his hand towards Temari "winner by forfeit: Temari"

* * *

Kiba picked up Akamaru and made his way to the viewing platform. While passing Naruto he looked at his friend who gave him a smile and a thumbs up which he returned. Kiba sat down next to his team with Akamaru in his lap.

Kurenai turned to him with a smile on her face, "I'm proud of you Kiba"

Kiba gave a grin "well if it wasn't for Naruto telling me to take it seriously, I probably would have lost sooner"

Kurenai looked towards Naruto who was looking at the board for the next fight 'I'm curious to see what the boy is capable of. From what I have heard he was the dead last of his class but he has the trust of many from his group.'

The names of the next fight were up and only one person thought it was irritating

Shikamaru vs Kin Tsuechi

Shikamaru sighed at this "troublesome. Well might as well get this over with so I can take a nap". He began to make his way towards the stairs in a lazy manner

Naruto was excited to see how his lazy friend would handle this fight

* * *

~Meanwhile in an Unknown location~

Kabuto was in the middle of healing Orochimaru from the burns that Naruto gave him in the forest "Orochimaru-sama, you should really consider transferring to another body soon"

Orochimaru grunted in pain as a bolt of it ran through his body from his shoulder "it would jeopardize the whole operation if I did so now. Just focus on keeping me on my feet until the time is right"

Kabuto grimaced at the wound that seemed to be spreading from the shoulder. He had been able to slow it down but not stop it "that's a very long wait Orochimaru-sama but I think I can do it but on that day you need to do it as quickly as possible"

Orochimaru smirked as he gave thought of his plan "kukuku it will be worth the pain to see the old fossil dye and Konoha burn. With the contribution from Danzo, it will be more fulfilling to see the look on his face"

Kabuto shifted to be behind Orochimaru to continue working on the wound "are you sure we can trust Danzo-san? He doesn't seem the type to keep up his end of the bargain"

"Kukuku it doesn't matter. He doesn't know the full plan, he wants my old sensei dead. This aligns with our interests so he is willing to give us what we want as long as we kill him. Let him have the ashes of the village afterwards, it doesn't concern us"

"Very well Orochimaru-sama"

* * *

~back to the fights~

"Winner Shikamaru Nara"

Naruto felt a bit sorry for Kin after losing in such a manner but he was glad that Shikamaru won. He watched as Shikamaru slowly walked by "way to go Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru turned his head to look at Naruto "it was troublesome but at least now I can take a nap without Ino bugging me

Naruto chuckled as he looked back to the screen to see who would be the next fighters. He was hoping that he would get to fight next but he didn't like the next fight that popped up and he felt worry take him as he saw the names

Neji Hyuga vs Hinata Hyuga

Naruto turned his head towards Hinata and could feel that she was extremely nervous

Neji scoffed as he made his way down to the floor and as he passed Naruto, he gave a sideways glare at him

Naruto could feel some hatred directed at him but most of it seemed directed at Hinata

Kurenai looked at the girl and frowned as she knew about the relation between the two. "Hinata. You don't have to do this"

Hinata looked at Kurenai with a small bit of hurt in her eyes and shook her head, saying nothing as she began to move towards the stairs.

As she passed she made eye contact with Naruto as he gave her a reassuring smile which built up her spirits and confidence

Naruto watched her walk by and before she made it too far from him he spoke in a soft voice so those around him can hear and Hinata as well "remember what I said to you when we were training. Fight how you want to and that only the words from those that want to see you improve are the ones that matter"

Hinata smiled at this as it was during one of their sparring matches that he said this after she had told him about how her father would speak of her. He had told her that his words should be used to prove him wrong and only the words of certain people should be remembered.

Team 10 and the rest of team 8 and 9 looked towards Naruto and smiled. Lee and Guy had anime tears and were about to hug but they were stopped by Tenten, not wanting to deal with it.

Team 8 nodded towards Naruto with smiles on their faces, even if Shino's wasn't visible

Hinata made her way to the floor and stood face against her cousin

Hayate stood between the two and although he knew nothing about these two he could feel the tension "are both contestants ready?"

Hinata was the only one that nodded as Neji just scowled

Hayate nodded and brought his hand down "Hajime"

* * *

~Hinata vs Neji~

For a moment neither moved and just looked at each other. Neji was the first to speak "you should quiet now. You cannot think that you have a chance of defeating me"

Naruto didn't need his senses to feel the venom the guy had for Hinata. He didn't like the fact that he was looking down at Hinata like she wasn't worth his time but he kept himself glued to his spot.

Hinata felt a twinge of doubt after hearing Neji say this and a part of her wanted to just walk away but looking up to Naruto, her doubt vanished and her confidence grew "no I will prove that I am capable of fighting"

Neji brought his hand in front of him and closed his eyes as he activated his Dojutsu "Byakugan! You will never prove that you are anything but a failure!"

Hinata brought her hand up and did the same hand sign to activate her Dojutsu "Byakugan! I'm sorry Neji-kun"

Neji felt anger build up when Hinata said this and charged

Hinata charged as well meeting him in the middle as the both of them began to their match

Guy's team watch impassively as his student fought against his cousin. He would have called it a youthful match but he could see the anger in Neji's eyes 'my dear student, you let anger drive your hands. Don't let this diminish your flames of youth'

Some of the rookie 9 were cheering for Hinata but the one that everyone expected to be cheering was watching at the fight sadly.

Kurenai looked at Naruto with a quirked eyebrow "what is it Naruto-san?"

Naruto continued to watch the fight as he poke "She hates this fight"

Kurenai understood what Naruto meant but she was surprised to hear what he said next

"her heart hurts everytime she lands a blow. So much so that she is subconsciously holding back"

"How can you tell?"

Naruto gave a small sad smile "because she does the same thing when we spared against each other. I've seen how fast she is when she uses posts and it is faster than what she is doing now."

Kurenai nodded "but she does seem to be dodging very fluently. Much better than before"

It was true Hinata seemed to be less dodging and more dancing around the blows. It was more like she was a current of water flowing around a rock in the way. It was one of the ways Naruto told her to alter the Hyuga style

Neji was growing angry as he saw the altered version of the gentle fist. He jumps back quite a bit and glares at Hinata "you disgrace the Hyuga clan by changing the style"

Hinata felt guilt in her but she let it go, since Naruto helped her out with it and her mother had encouraged this as she said that the Hyuga clan needed to change if it was ever to get better. "I choose to fight this way. The people important to me have helped me become stronger and I will show you what they have taught me" Hinata lowered herself into a stance with her legs spread apart and both palms facing forward

Neji grew confused a bit at this as he figured it was one of the eight trigrams palm technique but it was off 'she is too far away for it to even be used' to his shock she spoke

"You're beyond the range of my divination"

Neji felt even more confused 'if I am beyond the range than why does she act like she is still able to use it?!'

Neji got his answer as Hinata bolted forward towards him at great speed. His guard was lowered and he was unprepared for what came next

"**Eight trigrams 32 Palms" **Hinata launched two palms into Neji's stomach. Hard enough to push him back but not enough to knock him off his feet. Hinata twirled around his body to land two more on his back with one hand above the other in vertical position. Then she went to his side hitting him on his side. She continued to twirl around Neji hitting him in different spots as she moved around the body

Neji could feel the impacts from around him as some of his chakra points were being closed but he noticed that most of the ones hit were not closing.

Once Hinata was coming to a finish in the move she bent her knees to be low and in a twirl she swept his legs from under him and while he was in the air she threw the last palm strikes in his stomach to launch him away

Neji coughed up some blood as he rolled on the ground. He was able to catch himself and shifted to he could roll on his feet

Everyone was shocked to see Hinata pull off a move like that as they never thought that she would do something like this.

Neji slowly got to his feet as he glared at Hinata before he launched himself at her

Both continued to block redirect and dodge blows from each other but one of them was growing weaker as the fight kept going

Naruto grew more and more worried as the fight continued. Doubt kept creeping into Hinata's heart, while anger filled Neji's. He felt a bit of relief when both stopped fighting and stood apart from each other

Neji smirked as he stood up straight "you have lost Hinata-_sama_. All your points have been closed and you have exhausted yourself with that disgrace of a move."

Hinata was breathing hard as she looked at Neji. she knew that she didn't have enough energy to continue this fight but she chose to not give up the fight until the end "I *pant pant* will not ...give up" Hinata stood as straight as she could as she looked into Neji's eyes "I am sorry Neji-kun"

Naruto's eyes grew wide as he moved forward "we have to stop this!" he was stopped when he felt someone grab the collar of his jacket. Turning his head he saw it was Kakashi

"Hold on Naruto. It's against the rules to interfere with a match"

Move his arms back, he slipped out of his jacket "he's going to kill her"

Kakashi's eyes widened

Neji saw red when he heard her apologize 'what right does she have to say that to me!' Neji charged towards Hinata who stood there unmoving with a sad smile on her face. Neji pulled his hand back to strike at her heart. Thrusting his finger strike forward, it was stopped when someone grabbed his wrist and stood in front of him

Naruto landed in front of Neji a split second before Neji could strike Hinata and he grabbed the Hyuga boy's wrist to stop it. Although he stopped it, it still impacted on him but not at full strength. Naruto was glaring at Neji holding both the strike back as well as he anger "how dare you try to kill her!" he said through gritted teeth

Neji scowled at him "you dare interfere with this?! You'll be disqualified!"

Naruto continued to glare "I don't care. You tried to kill her and if I am disqualified for this than whatever ...but I'm not the only one that stopped you"

Neji then realized that he was surrounded by most of the jonin senseis. Kakashi held his arm just above Naruto's grip, Kurenai was gripping his other arm and his sensei Guy, had his arm around his neck

Guy spoke up at this "this battle is over Neji. Stand down"

Hayate dropped down next to the group "due to interference Hinata Hyuga is disqualified. Neji Hyuga is the winner. *cough* contestant Uzumaki, if you interfere again you will be removed from the chunin exams"

Naruto turned his glare to Hayate, which made the man flinch at the intensity "if it means saving my friends, I don't care!". He then let go of Neji's wrist and walked around everyone to get to Hinata

* * *

Hinata was so exhausted that she couldn't stay on her feet.

She began to collapse onto the ground but was caught by Naruto "that was a good fight Hinata-chan"

Hinata felt happy hearing praise from Naruto but she couldn't stay awake much longer and fell unconscious after she smiled

Kurenai walked up to the two "I'll take her to the infirmary. Don't worry she'll be fine"

Naruto reluctantly handed Hinata to Kurenai and watched as the older woman walked away with her. Turning to glare at Neji he pulled out a kunai

Everyone almost thought that Naruto was about to attack Neji but were stunned to see Naruto cut his hand deep

Naruto let his blood pool a bit in his hand before closing it, letting it run down his hand and arm. Thrusting it towards Neji he spoke with anger in his voice "Neji! Pray we don't fight in the finals because if we do ...I'll destroy you!"

* * *

End of the chapter

Well the first part of the prelims is here

Ok for Sasuke vs Zaku, he is one of the few fighters that would lose to Sasuke at this point so I pitted them together

For Kiba vs Temari. In canon Temari went against Tenten and it was a poor match up so I chose to make a fight where Temari wouldn't get a chance to fully get a move in as Kiba's fang over fang would keep her on her toes but with Temari being as skilled as she is would be able to dodge most of the hits. In the end she got an opportunity and won

Shikamaru vs Kin…well Canon and a good way to show a bit of what is happening behind the scenes

Neji and Hinata played out mostly like it did in canon apart from the parts I wrote. The move Hinata did was inspired by the game (even though I didn't know where it came from until after I wrote it :P) except for the last part which was somewhat original

Also like it said Hinata was holding back subconsciously

Hinata was not struck in the heart as she was in canon so there is no blood for Naruto to use to swear his victory, she will also not be crippled during the finals

If the fights were not good, I'm sorry. I am not very good with fights as in my head I can see a fight but writing it down is difficult for me

Well next chapter will have a few more fights and some of them will be canon

Please read and Review


	27. Prelims Part 2

FR: Ino I've come to bargain

Ino: Leave me alone! We have done this a dozens of times already!

FR: Ino….I've come to bargain

Ino: no matter how many times we do this I will still win

FR: why Ino. I've come to bargain

Ino: AAAAAAHHHHH

Naruto: so what was the bargain?

Hinata "he wouldn't tell me

FR: because there is no bargain. I'm just doing this for fun

Naruto: *sweat drops* that's mean you know that

FR: …..Maybe. Anyway everyone enjoy the show. Hey Ino! I've come to bargain

* * *

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

(author comment) - not a lot of them

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, it's owned by one wiser than me

* * *

Chapter 27: Prelims part 2

Neji could only stare at Naruto as he made his declaration. Normally he would have scoffed at this threat but something in him told him that the blonde was a threat but he pushed it into the back of his mind and leapt back to the observation platform next to his team

Naruto kept his eyes on Neji as the hyuga leapt up. He was brought out of his glaring when Hayate coughed to get his attention. Looking at the man, who looked at him expectantly, Naruto took a deep breath before he also leapt up to get the prelims going.

Once Naruto got to his team he just sat down trying to reign in his anger 'Rama-tou-chan?'

"**...yeah"**

'When this is over, will you help me train'

"**...get through this and get this seal off ...then I will"**

Naruto nodded his head as he turned to look through the bars of the rails at the big screen to see who will fight next. He wanted to be next to fight to release some of his pent up anger, so he kept staring at the screen as it ran through the names. When they stopped he only let out a frustrated sigh at who it was

Sakura Haruno vs Tenten

Naruto would have felt some sense of warning Sakura about Tenten even if Tenten was his friend but right now no matter what warning he would give, it wouldn't change the end result. Tenten will win.

Sakura felt great worry at this. The girl was on the same team as the guy who nearly killed someone that was in her class. She didn't interact with Hinata at all, in the academy or after they graduated but to see someone that was in the same class and admittingly stronger, she was not so confident. She didn't know the girl or her skill set but she wanted to see how far she had gotten with her training so she made her way to the arena floor

Tenten felt some excitement as she was waiting to fight but she wasn't as excited as she would have been as she felt anger at her own teammate for how far he went on someone who seemed unwilling to fight. Also the amount of importance she seemed to be to Naruto. She may have supported her teammate in some of what he would do but Neji went to far. She leapt to the arena floor to stand in front of Sakura

Kakashi looked down at his female genin impassively. He had trained Sakura to improve her physical abilities but he had not gotten to improving her taijutsu or train her in another style apart from the academy one. He will admit that she had improved immensely from where she used to be but he felt that she wasn't going to be able to win this fight,especially against a student of Guy. 'be careful Sakura-chan. I'm sorry to say that I don't expect you to win but I do want you to get out of this without too much injury'

Lee began to cheer for Sakura and his teammate "YOSH TENTEN! SAKURA-CHAN! SHOW US YOUR FLAMES OF YOUTH."

Guy popped up next to Lee and was just as excited "THAT'S RIGHT MY YOUTHFUL STUDENT! CHEER FOR THEM SO THEY MAY SHOW HOW THEIR FLAMES OF THEIR YOUTH BURN!"

"YES GUY-SENSEI! I WILL CHEER FOR THEM AS SO THEY BURN BRIGHTLY! IF I CANNOT, I WILL CLIMB THE HOKAGE MONUMENT WITH THREE OF MY LIMBS TIED BEHIND MY BACK"

"THAT'S THE SPIRIT LEE! LET YOUR FLAMES BURN BRIGHTLY"

"OH GUY-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GUY-SENSEI!"

Naruto knew what was coming, so he closed his eyes and turned his head away. He may not have ever seen it but the way Tenten said that it would scar him, he didn't want to test if it would. He knew he had made the right choice as he heard several of his peers

"Kai, KAI. why isn't it working?"

*arf* "yeah I know but it won't go away"

"*grunt* hm"

Naruto waited for a few seconds before he opened his eyes again and much to his fortune, it had ended.

Hayate was rubbing his eyes trying to get the dreaded sunset genjutsu out of his mind but it was just stuck there

Sakura would have seen it but at the moment Tenten had her hand over the pinkettes eyes "um...thanks?"

Tenten removed her hand and went back to where she once stood "trust me, you don't want to see that

Hayate brought his hand up "contestants ready?"

Both Kunoichi nodded their heads, ready to start the fight

Hayate nodded and dropped his hand "Hajime"

* * *

~Sakura vs Tenten~

Sakura was the first to make a move as she threw three kunai in a horizontal throw towards Tenten

Tenten leaned back to let the kunai pass over her but at the last second she brought up her hands to grab a kunai in each hand. She brought herself up and threw the two kunai back in simultaneous vertical throws

Sakura shifted to her left to dodge the kunai but the kunai were thrown at such a speed that it left a cut in her clothing in the stomach area 'that was close'

Tenten smiled "nice starter but not still lacking" she brought out a scroll, opened it up and unsealed what was inside. Out of the smoke came a bow-staff. Tenten twirled the staff around her body before she brought it to her side as she put herself in a stance with the staff pointing towards Sakura

Sakura pulled out two kunai and got ready as Tenten charged towards her. Sakura had to begin dodging the staff to the best of her ability with the kunai acting as deflectors when the staff would come too close but the strength put in each blow started to make her arms numb 'she is not only fast but strong too'

Kakashi was watching the fight and could see the struggle that his genin was having "she has no idea how to deal with someone using weapons. It will be a miracle if she can pull out a win"

Naruto shook his head at this "sometimes it doesn't take a miracle, just dumb luck"

Guy looked towards kakashi "your student is most youthful to fight at her hardest against my student Kakashi"

Kakashi looked at guy with a bored look "huh? You say something Guy?"

Guy turned away as he cried waterfall tears "oh curse you and your hip attitude my rival"

Tenten didn't let up the assault making sure not to give Sakura the chance to retaliate. She switched from swiping strikes to thrusting strikes and she could see that the pinkette had never fought someone like her before. She launched a hard thrust to the center of Sakura which was blocked with her arms. Tenten then quickly brought the staff back and by crouching a bit and spinning her body, she swiped at Sakura's feet getting her to fall on her back. Tenten leapt into the air a bit and brought the staff in a downward thrust

Sakura rolled to the side to avoid the hit and got back on her feet as she began to breath heavily 'I'm outclassed. She had me on the defense the second the match started. I can't even fight back ...but' she reached into her weapons pouch for something specific 'if I could just get one hit in, I might be able to win'

Tenten saw the girl reach into her weapons pouch and decided not to let the girl make a move. Putting her staff down she quickly leapt into the air, pulling out two scrolls, one in each hand 'this might be overkill but I won't aim for anything vital'. As she was moving up in the leap she unfurled both of them making them spiral around her.

Sakura looked on in worry 'I've gotta move fast' she pulled out what she was looking for and on reflex threw them at Tenten.

Tenten saw that something was thrown at her and her keen eyes saw that some senbon were thrown. She channeled her chakra into the scrolls and began her move "**Twin Rising Dragons"**. Tenten began to unseal multiple kunai and threw them in quick succession towards Sakura. She made sure to hit the senbon to deflect them.

Sakura panicked more at the wave of kunai coming towards her. She pulled out her own kunai and leapt back deflecting as many as she could but she kept getting cut multiple times and a few embedded into her. One in each leg and one in her left shoulder.

Tenten stopped throwing kunai and rolled up the scrolls as she landed back on the ground. She looked towards Sakura with a smile on her face "not bad but you should surrender now," she said as she pulled out a senbon from her stomach and dropped it to the floor. "Though I have to admit. I'm impressed that you used senbons. They are really difficult to use as weapons and should only be used when you have pinpoint accuracy. But from what I can tell you were way off from any potential targets that would help. Sure if I didn't move you would have hit me but from what I could see they would hit me on my left bicep, thigh and foot but the rest would have missed their target. Nice try though"

Sakura was pulling out the kunai from her shoulder and glared at Tenten "I'm not done yet!" she grabbed both the kunai in her legs and pulled them out 'please tell me it worked!'

Tenten smiled at the determination of the girl. She lifted her hand and tugged on an unseen ninja wire that was attached to all the kunai. Soon all the kunai dangled in Tenten's hands attached to the wire. "Ok then….shall we go again?"

Sakura tried to get to her feet but her legs felt weak from the kunai wounds in them 'ugh this is a lot different from getting hit by senbon. After this, I need to ask Haku-kun to help me out more'. She stood up on wobbly legs and stared at Tenten

Tenten put away the kunai back into a storage scroll for her used weapons for later prep. She picked up her staff and brought it to stand at her side "you've got guts pinky but you've lost. With your legs like that, you lose speed and some mobility but since you are so determined to keep going than here I come!"

Sakura brought up her kunai and blocked as best she could but since she was not able to move much she was launched away from a thrust strike to her stomach. She rolled on the ground till she came to a stop face down. She slowly lifted her head to look at Tenten 'it didn't work'

Tenten put her staff on her shoulders and looked towards Hayate "I think she's done, so you should call the ma…" all of a sudden her entire body felt numb, she lost her balance and collapsed to the ground "Wha…?"

"Looks ...like…..it worked"

Everyone turned to Sakura who was still on the ground

Tenten tried to move any part of her body but she could only move her fingers, eyes and mouth. She looked at Sakura as she was facing her "what...worked?"

"I know I don't have the accuracy to hit nerve points on the body so the one who was helping me train helped me create a paralytic that I put my senbon needles in. I was just trying to get one to hit you or at least scratch you. It just ugh...took longer to take effect than I thought"

Tenten couldn't help but laugh a bit at this "hahaha that single senbon ...wow. Gotta admit that was clever. Never thought that you would have poisoned your senbons."

Sakura smiled at the praise she got but she felt her consciousness begin to fade 'must be from the blood loss' Sakura laid her head down knowing that she had lost. She was about to faint and Tenten was still conscious

Tenten could see that Sakura was about to faint and she knew how this fight would be called so she made it easier for both of them "let's call this a draw Sakura-san"

Hayate landed in the field and looked at the two "since both contestants are unable to continue, this match is a draw"

* * *

Kakashi smiled under his mask at how far Sakura has come since she first joined the team and although she didn't win, she got a draw against a more experienced

Naruto was surprised that Sakura was able to pull out a draw from one of the strongest girls he knows. He gave a small smile as the medical team take the two away "she pulled it off"

Kakashi nodded his head "yes she did"

Sasuke scoffed "she didn't win. A draw is still a lose no matter how you look at it"

Naruto turned around to Glare at Sasuke "only you would see that as a lose. She was able to paralyze her opponent that had an advantage against her. Fighting an opponent to a standstill is a win whether you believe it or not"

"Hm"

Naruto was in no mood for the Uchiha so he went back to look at the large screen 'please let me be next. Please let me be next, please let me be next!'

"**Calm down Kit. You'll get your turn and you can let out some of your frustration"**

'But dealing with the Uchiha isn't helping'

"**They never help. They are only out for themselves and this flea is no different"**

'HEY don't call the teme a flea!'

"**Oh, why not?"**

'Shino would find it insulting since he has a few fleas in his collection'

"**Good point. But ...don't you hate fleas?"**

'...yes but Shino finds them cool and he is my friend so no bashing on fleas'

"**What about that one time he brought some to your class and you got them on you?"**

'Shut up! We never talk about that!'

Naruto got back to reality when he saw the names for the next fight

Shino vs Ino

Both Shino and Ino made their way to the fighting floor and both got ready for the fight

Naruto groaned for not being the one to fight and for how this fight might go

Kakashi looked towards Naruto "whats up Naruto? There a problem with the fight?"

Naruto just facepalmed "I seriously doubt it will be a fight"

"What do you mean?"

Naruto spoke in a soft voice so only Kakashi could hear "Ino is going to forfeit. Probably soon after Shino starts"

Kakashi tilted his head "why?"

Both Ino and Shino stood in position ready to start the fight

Hayate did his duty and began the match as normal

Shino wasted no time in unleashing his swarm of insects and launching them towards Ino

Ino paled at the sight of the swarm and began to leap out of the way as best she could. She threw several explosive tags towards the swarm but the insects were able to shred the tags, rendering them useless.

Ino tried to think of something to do against the swarm but she didn't have much in her arsenal. Using the **Mind transfer Jutsu** would be useless since if she aimed towards Shino, the swarms might get in the way and she would be in the mind of an insect 'I DON'T WANT TO BE A BUG!'. A shadow loomed over her and she looked up to see the swarm hover over her and was about to come down. Eyes wide she did the only thing she could do "I FORFEIT!". The swarm stopped mere inches from her and she ran away.

Naruto sighed "Ino may be able to deal with the occasional bug or two, since she works with flowers and plants but if there is a swarm of decent size, she will run away"

Hayate sweatdropped at how quickly this fight, if he can even call it that "winner by forfeit: Shino Aburame"

* * *

Ino had run back up to the observation platform and made her way to her team, where she ran past them and crouched down to the wall

Kakashi had to stifle a chuckle at this. The match up was just extremely unfortunate for Ino

Asuma sighed at the way this fight went 'going to have to find a way for her to deal with that

Naruto knew that she had a fear of swarms of insects since she told him that long ago when she was a little girl, she was out in her family garden she accidently hit a beehive that no one knew about. The swarm of bees chance her for a few minutes before her dad came to save her. She never liked swarms of anything after that. He pulled out a little notebook from his weapons pouch and wrote a little note.

Kakashi noticed that Naruto was writing down something and grew curious "what are you doing Naruto-kun?"

Naruto finished the note and turned to Kakashi and held up the note "can you give this to Asuma-sensei?"

Kakashi grabbed the note and shrugged before he went to give Asuma the note

Kakashi gave Asuma the note "from one of my own"

Asuma immediately knew who Kakashi was referring to. He opened the note and quirked an eyebrow as he watched Kakashi begin to walk back to his team. 'Hmm I assume he wants me to get it for her then. Well if it helps I don't mind'

Naruto leaned against the railing and waited for the next match as his frustration was beginning to die down

* * *

~meanwhile in Konoha~

Haku and Zabuza were at a bar and grill talking about how Kirigakure was doing

Zabuza was finishing up a bottle of Sake but still didn't feel the effects "the Mizukage sent me here as a so called vacation but it's more of a scouting mission with little pay."

Haku was having tea with some takoyaki "I hope this isn't for anything against the village Zabuza-sama"

Zabuza put down the bottle he was drinking "please she seems more interested in finding a man than she does fighting another village" he called a waiter for another bottle of Sake "so how do you think the gakis are doing"

Haku smiled at talking about her friends "I'm sure they are doing fairly well. Naruto-san and Sakura-chan have improved immensely since the last time you saw them" he said with a smile on his face

Zabuza grimaced on the inside at this 'that's an interestingly scary thought for the blonde gaki to get better.' he smiled at Haku at one thing he said "so you seem to be fond of them. So tell me, are you more fond to Naruto or the girl?"

Haku said nothing as he ate another ball of Takoyaki

Zabuza chuckled at how Haku was trying not to answer "you know you can't hide it from me kid"

Haku said nothing as he blushed a bit at what he was insinuating "I'm sure the WHOLE team are doing fine"

* * *

~45 minutes later back to the fights~

Naruto thought that the last few fights were interesting

Kankuro vs mayuri, was interesting fro many who didn't know the abilities of both boys but in the end Kankuro was able to win the fight using his puppet from the very beginning of the fight. Everyone thought that he was about to lose from the stretchy ability of Mayuri but it turns out that the one he was fighting from the beginning was the puppet while Kankuro was in the wrapping.

Dosu vs Choji, Naruto thought was somewhat funny as Shikamaru bribing Choji with all you can eat was a very good motivator for the Akimichi but unfortunately Choji was beaten. Naruto told himself that he would also treat the guy to a meal, he just needed to gather the funds for an Akimichi meal

But right now, Naruto felt his anger and worry rise again as he watched the end of the fight

"LEE!"

Naruto was going to jump down to help his friend from the sand user but he was held back by Kakashi "let me go!"

Naruto you need to calm down. If you go down there now you will be disqualified"

"I said it before! If it means that I have to save my friends than I don't care if I get disqualified"

Everyone had thought that Lee was going to win this fight. Especially after he unlocked several of the inner gates but he couldn't hold it long and left an opening that allowed Gaara to do major damage

Naruto stopped struggling when he saw Guy stop the wave of Sand "thank Kami"

Karin who was still standing to the side could see the distress coming from her fellow clansman. She wanted to help but she couldn't think of anything '...wait!'

Everyone was shocked to see Lee stand up and get ready to fight once more but even more shocking was when they learned he was doing this unconsciously

Guy caught Lee as he began to fall "you proved yourself already Lee" he said as real tears came out 'I'm proud of you'. "I need a medical team here NOW!"

Karin saw an opportunity and jumped down to the arena floor.

The hokage saw this and was about to call in an anbu team to detain her but he noticed that Naruto had gotten out of Kakashi's grip and also jumped down…...but not to stop her 'hmm Naruto can usually detect ill intent ...so if he isn't trying to stop her, that means she has no ill motive but what could she be doing?'. He lowered his hand a bit but would be ready for anything this unknown girl might do

Karin had made it to the two green clad shinobi at the same time Naruto did. She looked toward Guy "please wait I can help!"

Guy looked at the girl with a critical eye "what do you mean you can help?" he said with some skepticism in his voice but a small bit of hope as well

Karin lifted her sleeve to show multiple bite marks on her arms "let him bite me"

Now Guy was fully wary of this girl. Why would someone randomly tell them something like that

Karin knew it sounded weird so she elaborated "my chakra has healing properties if you let him bite me it can heal him!"

Naruto looked at Karin with shock. He never heard of such a thing but if it were true it could help his friend out "can it really heal him?!"

Karin nodded while looking Guy in the eye with determination

Guy looked at the girl and Naruto before looking up to the Hokage.

Naruto and Karin also looked towards the hokage

Hiruzen looked at the scenario and was also skeptical. He looked into the eyes of Guy who had a hopeful look, Karin who had a look of determination and then to Naruto but when he looked into Naruto's eyes he wasn't looking for an emotion he was silently consulting with the boy on whether or not she was telling the truth. Naruto nodded his head which told him everything he needed to know. Shifting his eyes to Guy he nodded his head to signify the go ahead

Guy looked to the girl "Ok"

Karin smiled and brought her arm up to the unconscious Lee. using her other hand to open his mouth, she put her arm in and made Lee bite hard into her arm. She grunted and focused on pushing her chakra into the boy. Normally the one biting would just suck the chakra out but Lee was unconscious so she had to move the chakra into the boy

Naruto watched as Lee's injuries began to heal, similar to the way his wounds wound heal but without the red chakra and the steam coming out of them afterwards.

All of Lee's external wounds were healed but he remained unconscious. The medical team had come in midway through the healing and were surprised by what they saw but they did their duty and put the boy on a stretcher and took him away with Guy watching him leave

Naruto turned to Karin and gave her a hug "thanks"

Karin returned the hug "your welcome"

They separated and Karin went back up to the observation platform

Hiruzen was interested in the ability that the girl had 'I have never heard of such a healing method. Wonder if she will allow me to ask her about it later?'

Naruto stood where he was and turned to Gaara who was staring at him impassively

Both stared into each others eyes for a moment until Gaara spoke "mother finds you interesting. She wants your blood"

Naruto sneered at the boy "she can't have anymore"

Gaara grew a mad smile on his face "she will have your blood Uzumaki". Gaara then **shunshined **away in a swirl of sand

Naruto didn't move from his spot as he knew there was only one fight left and he was in it "about time I get a chance to fight"

The screen went through the names again but the second fighter was already making his way to the arena. After a few second both stood facing each other

Naruto Uzumaki vs Yoroi Akadō

Naruto stood looking at his opponent 'finally I get a chance to let off some steam'

"**...Go easy on him kit. He doesn't look like much"**

'Neither do I'. Naruto got into his fighting stance, crouching down and crossing his arms in an x formation in front of his face with clawed hands

Most of the Jonin grew some interest at the form Naruto was in as they haven't seen it before

Kiba grew a bit mad at this as he thought that he was copying an Inuzuka style "hey that damn copycat he's stealing from my clan"

Kakashi spoke up loud enough so Team 8, 9 and 10 could hear "no it isn't an Inuzuka style. It's animalistic in nature but it's a style that he made it himself"

Everyone looked at him as Kurenai asked him "what does he call it?"

Hayate looked between the two contestants and brought his hand up "contestants ready?"

Naruto nodded his head while Yoroi crossed his arms, not even getting into a fighting stance

Hayate brought his hand down to start the match "Hajime!"

* * *

~Naruto vs Yoroi~

Naruto launched himself towards Yoroi the second Hayate said it

Hayate barely dodged the genin as the blonde was going faster than he thought the kid could go

Kakashi watched as Naruto moved "he called it 'Prowling fox' style"

Yoroi was not expecting the kid to be able to move that fast and found himself on the receiving end of a claw strike to the left side of his face which sent Yorio was sent flying 'how the fuck can this kid move so fast?'. He flipped in the air and planted his feet to the ground, getting him to come to a sliding stop

Naruto created two shadow clones that ran towards Yoroi in a crisscross pattern before Naruto began to charge afterwards

Yoroi looked up in time to see a claw swipe by leaving a long cut across the right side of his face. He then felt a cut run the side of his neck before a fist dug deep into his stomach 'what the hell!'

Naruto pulled his fist out before he made eighteen **bunshin **that surrounded Yoroi in a perfect circle

Yoroi had enough sense to realize that he might have underestimated Naruto. 'Gotta activate it now' he placed his hands together to channel his jutsu

Naruto joined his clones in the circle and began to run in a counterclockwise circle around Yoroi

Naruto began his attack and clone after clone struck at Yoroi

Yoroi found himself being struck from all angles and he couldn't get a lock on where the original was 'kids good but I have it active now. He's going to lose this fight'

Everyone was astounded by the move that Naruto was using.

Kakashi saw that Naruto had improved it since he last saw it. 'He;s using his claws this time. I know I said that if he used kunai for this it would be deadly but now I see it can be used with fists, kunai …..and claws. He also runs on all fours when he charges in. that makes quick directional turns easier in case he needs to pull back. It also allows him to strike lower

Kiba felt a little jealous at this "damn. Glad I didn't get to fight him. Wonder if he could help me out in my style"

Ino sat there watching in awe at how her ...friend was fighting 'incredible…..Naruto-kun'

The Suna team were amazed at how the blonde was making short work to Yoroi but Kankuro and Temari were afraid of their brother

Gaara had a mad grin on his face as he watched Naruto

Sasuke was gritting his teeth as he watched in interest. 'How is Naruto able to do all this and I can't!' Sasuke activated his Sharingan to try and copy the moves for himself

Kakashi felt the shift in Chakra coming from his student and turned to see Sasuke with his Sharingan activated. He hit Sasuke in the back of the head to get him to stop "I thought I told you not to use it on fellow konoha shinobi. Also, remember what happened last time you tried to use Naruto's moves. You ended up staying at the hospital for each time. Besides you wouldn't be able to use this anyway because it is using the two things you can't use. Naruto's **Kage bunshin** and his flexibility so don't try it"

Sasuke hated the fact that what he said was true so he deactivated the Sharingan and just watched the fight

Naruto stopped his assault and all his clones stood in the circle watching Yoroi as the man stumbled to his feet

Yoroi was in bad shape. He looked like he went for a swim in razor sharp kunai. His clothes were shredding with holes and cuts and blood was splattered all over his body and the ground "heheheh not bad kid but I'm still going to win this fight"

One of the Naruto's tilted his head "how? You are all cut up and you haven't laid a scratch on me"

Yoroi stood up straight and took a deep breath and much to everyone's shock all the cuts began to heal

Naruto could see that the cuts were all healing the exact same way that his heal with steam coming out of the sealed wounds "how the….?"

Yoroi laughed 'this is amazing! His chakra has healing capabilities must be the kyuubi in him. That chakra is incredible, it heals my wounds and I feel stronger than before' "come on and come at me"

Hiruzen could feel something off from this. His senses could feel a small sliver of Naruto's chakra coming off Yoroi but he figure it might be just from being attacked so much by the boy. The healing did cause him great concern

Yoroi charged one of the clones and began to fight it one on one

The rest of the clones watched as Yoroi tried again and again to hit the clone but he was slow and his moves were obvious so all the cone did was block. They did feel some greed coming off the guy but they couldn't think of why

The clone that was fighting Yoroi was getting bored from all the blocking but he then felt something off. He felt that each time he made contact with the guy, a chunk of chakra left him 'wait I'm not putting any chakra in my limbs so why is it that…! He's stealing my chakra!'. The clone leapt away and dispelled itself

Naruto who was still standing with his clones took a step back in shock as well as the clones themselves. He immediately dispelled the rest of his clones "your stealing my chakra!"

Everyone's eyes grew wide when they heard this but Kakashi was the only one that was panicking on the inside. He had seen what Naruto's chakra can do to someone and this guy was willingly taking it into him

Yoroi chuckled "so you figured it out. Yeah I am and I gotta saw that it is amazing! The chakra has power in it!" Yoroi charged at Naruto aiming to take more

Naruto began to dodge Yoroi's strikes and grabs ans if they were diseased "no it's dangerous, you can't have any of it"

"What makes you think I'm going to listen to you"

Hiruzen grew nervous as although he had never witnessed the effects he had read the reports on what happened to Mizuki and Gato. he wanted to cancel the match but in these exams, death is an extreme possibility so he let it go on

Naruto kept trying to warn Yoroi "you gotta stop !if you keep taking it, something bad will happen!"

"Heheheh yeah! You losing!"

Naruto kept dodging but in his panicked state he made a misstep and fell on his back

Yoroi took the opportunity to jump on Naruto and gripped his throat as he siphoned more of the chakra "now I got you!"

Naruto grabbed Yoroi's wrist and started to pull it off "you have no idea what you did!". Naruto brought his legs in and kicked Yoroi off him. Once Yoroi was off Naruto got to his feet and turned to Hayate "call a medical Team NOW!" Naruto knew that his chakra was bad for others as he remembered what happened to Mizuki when he stabbed the teme in the shoulder. He didn't know what would happen if someone else absorbed it but he was afraid to find out

Yoroi landed on his feet and turned to Naruto "aww you need someone to help heal your wounds when I'm through with you. Good call cause I'm going to….." Yoroi didn't get to finish what he was going to say because his body suddenly felt like it was on fire "AAARRRGHH" Yoroi fell to the ground writhing in pain. He had absorbed too much of Naruto's chakra and it was now flowing through his chakra system. Yoroi began to claw at his skin trying to get it to stop but it kept going. He clawed at his skin so much that he began to rip it off.

Everyone in the stands watched in horror as the man ripped himself apart

Yoroi began to vomit blood in huge amounts and tears of blood ran down his face

Naruto stood there with a sad expression in his face as he knew that there was nothing he could do

The medical team came onto the scene and stopped at what they were looking at.

Yoroi had clawed his left arm so much that those close enough could see his bones. He kept screaming in a deep hoarse voice "MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP! AAARRRRGGGHHH"

The medical team got out of their shock and went to put the man on a stretcher. Once on it two lifted it up while another ran beside it trying to keep the man from moving too much. As they moved they left a trail of blood.

The fourth member of the medical turned to glare at Naruto with hate filled eyes

Naruto just stared back not saying anything ash even he agreed on what they might be thinking 'it was my fault'

Hayate stood there thinking about what happened but decided that they should end this as soon as possible "winner: Naruto Uzumaki"

* * *

Anko watched as Naruto walked back in a slow pace with his head down '*sigh* damn Gaki' she thought in sadness thinking what might be going through his head

Hiruzen tilted his hat to hide the sadness in his eyes

Karin didn't know what to make of what just happened but she felt a bit of fear towards the blonde

Naruto made it to the top of the stairs that lead to the observation platform and he could feel the fear coming off most of the genin. He made his way to his team and everyone gave him a wide berth for him and that hurt him more. As he walked by, Kiba spoke up from behind him

"Naruto…..what did you do?"

Naruto paused for a second and answered "I didn't stop him in time"

Asuma knew what the boy was feeling, it was clear as day on his face so he chose to help out a little "the problem was that he took too much of a good thing"

Everyone looked at him and Naruto had a small bit of panic in his eyes

Asuma smiled to reassure the boy and kept talking "you see Naruto's chakra has healing capabilities. You ever wonder why Naruto never seems to be hurt long" seeing everyone nod he continued "his chakra heals him from most of his injuries. That's why Naruto is always able to keep going. In fact you saw it work it's magic on Yoroi at the beginning. All the cuts and wounds he got healed up from the amount he took"

Shikamaru looked puzzled at this "but then why did he start screaming and doing all that to himself?"

Asuma took a drag from his cigarette "my guess is that he probably took too much of it. Too much of a good thing could be bad for you. And from what I saw Naruto was trying to stop him from taking more, so Naruto tried to save him before it got out of hand but he didn't listen and that happened"

Naruto could feel the fear from everyone subside immensely and he looked towards Asuma and gave him a thankful nod

Kakashi also did the same as he was trying to think of a way to appease everyone but he was beaten to the punch. He was still grateful to Asuma for saving Naruto in this

Hiruzen cleared his throat to get everyone's attention "well to all of you who have won your match today I would like to say congratulations on winning your match." Anko then came up with a box in her hands as hiruzen continued "Now I would like everyone who won to come up and take a number from this box. They will tell us who will be facing who in the finals ...one month from now"

* * *

End of Chapter

And the end of the prelims

I know I skipped three fights but I said before that some of the fights will be canon and I was unsure what else behind the scenes I could put

Ok for the Tenten vs Sakura fight. I had to figure a way in removing them from the finals as the roster is going to be the same and for those who say that it is impossible …...yeah I agree but remember that Tenten came out of the fight without a scratch while Sakura got a bit cut up and some kunai wounds. The only reason it was a tie was because Sakura got stupid lucky.

Also Sakura has been training with Haku so it only makes sense that she would get faster and better at blocking projectiles

I am not sure how potent Karins healing ability can be so I don't know how much healing it could do for Lee

For Ino vs Shino. There was no other outcome that would happen. Nothing in Ino's arsenal would have helped her against Shino

The healing thing for the kyuubi chakra was the only excuse I could think of to divert real thought on it

Also poll for the fighting style will be closed as the winner has been announced ...in this chapter


	28. Meeting with the Sage

Naruto: hey FR

FR: yeah?

Naruto: what are your plans for me anyway?

FR: that would be spoiling my plans

Naruto: what plans

FR: I've been scheming this from the start of the chunin exams

Hinata: so you already have it planned out

FR: just some bits here and there :)

Ino: at least tell me you have something planned for us

FR: ….oh yes Mwahahaha

Sasuke: I still think you made me too much of an ass

FR: I've read worse….trust me…..I think

Sakura: what kind of writer are you

FR: the one that just lets the story come out as I write. Heck a lot of ideas I had for how it would go kinda got changed when I got to the part

Naruto: kinda?

FR: I'll let the readers find out how it came out. Anyway take your places everyone…..aaannnddd action!

* * *

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

(author comment)

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, it's owned by one wiser than me

* * *

Chapter 28: meeting with the sage

Naruto was making his way through the hospital to check up on his friends that ended up here. He was right now, a little angry at what he had been told by the hokage. He knew that it wasn't anything personal but he hated having secrets kept from him, especially if it has to deal with his past. He thought about it as he was visiting Lee and Hinata since they were the only one of his friends that were staying in the hospital

* * *

_Flashback_

_Naruto and Karin were standing in front of the hokage both expecting answers._

_Karin wanted to know why the history of the Uzumaki clan was unknown_

_Naruto wanted to know if he was really part of a clan and why he was never told about it_

_Hiruzen looked at the two and waited for what they might have wanted to talk about "well you two. Is there something that you wished to talk to me about?"_

_Karin didn't want to beat around the bush so she just blurted out "why isn't the Uzumaki clan in your history books? And why is it that Naruto here doesn't know about it?!"_

_Hiruzen was both confused and a little concerned at these questions 'odd. It should be common knowledge that the Uzumaki clan were allied to us and it should be taught in the early years of the academy'. Looking at the two he saw that they were completely serious "I'm afraid that I am unsure about…"_

_Hiruzen was interrupted by a very angry red haired girl "DON'T GIVE ME THAT! The Uzumaki clan were allied with Konoha and now I find out that my...our clans massacre was swept under the rug."_

_Naruto kept quiet but he was feeling his anger rise at the idea that the old man was hiding something extremely important 'how could you jiji?'_

_Hiruzen raised his hand to get her to stop her yelling "it should be common knowledge….."_

_He was interrupted again "DAMN RIGHT IT SHOULD BE! You shouldn't hide our clans involvement in many of konoha's achievements. We should be in history books so everyone knows about…"_

"_You are"_

_Karin paused as she heard this "...say wha….?"_

_Hiruzen opened up a drawer in his desk and started rummaging through it until he pulled out an academy history book "hmm this is an old edition but should still have it." he then gave the book to Karin "go to pa~ge…..213"_

_Naruto was looking over Karin's shoulder as she flipped open the book until she arrived to the page_

_Karin felt her anger grow as she looked at the chapter title "this is about the battle of IWA!"_

_Hiruzen coughed before he spoke again "ahem forgive me …..try 235"_

_Karin again flipped through the book and her eyes widened when she saw it and read the title out loud "'The Uzumaki clan and the history of Uzushiogakure' so we are in the books. But why doesn't Naruto know about it?"_

_Hiruzen felt even more confusion "the Uzumaki clan is a history lesson that is taught in the early years of the academy. We honor them by not only having their history be taught early. We honored the relations between the two clans by having their clan symbol on our shinobi attire" Hiruzen looked towards Naruto "did you not pay attention to the lessons?"_

_Naruto crossed his arms and looked up in thought, trying to remember his years in the academy. As he thought he saw that not once were either Uzumaki clan or Uzushiogakure mentioned. "They never said anything about it. Sure I wasn't a good student but I would remember hearing my last name being used in a history lesson"_

_Hiruzen had several thoughts enter his head. Many trying to think of a reason on why he didn't know about it_

_Naruto asked a question to the hokage "you knew I was part of a clan. Why didn't you tell me"_

_Hiruzen could hear the distrust growing in the boy and sighed "I had planned on telling you about your clan when you came to me to ask questions about it but you had never asked. I assumed that you learned about it from the academy and since your clan is by many rights extinct, you did not wish to know about something that you could not regain."_

_Naruto felt his spirits drain when he heard this. It was true, if he had learned about his clan and that it was extinct he would try to avoid the subject. It hurts to know that he was part of a clan that is almost dead_

_Karin saw the sad look of her now confirmed clansman "what about his parents?"_

_Hiruzen's face grew somber "I have kept his parentage a secret until he was ready to know it ...before you begin to yell" he said as he saw that Karin was about to yell at him again "it was mostly his father I wished to keep secret. His mother was not so much a secret as it was more a risk." turning to Naruto he continued "Naruto, in your early years you were, rambunctious child. You would run around screaming that you did something 'awesome' as you said"_

_Naruto rubbed the back of his head and gave a sheepish laugh at remembering how he used to be_

"_Your mother was an amazing kunoichi but she had many enemies not only from outside the village but from within as well"_

_Naruto's eyes grew wide "what do you mean 'from within'? She was part of the leaf wasn't she?"_

_Hiruzen nodded "yes she was but much like you, she had massive amounts of chakra and a special ability that could be considered a kekkei genkai"_

_Naruto's eyes shot open "I have a kekkei genkai?!"_

"_It is unsure. Your mother had the ability to manifest her chakra into chains that she could manipulate them so she could use them as weapons or restraints. There were and still are, people that want to get their hands on that ability. I wasn't sure how far they might have gone to get it so I made the choice to hold onto the information until you came to me"_

_Naruto now really wanted to know "what was her name?"_

_Hiruzen opened another drawer and pulled out a photo of a woman with long red hair and a big smile on her face. He handed it to the boy "her name was Kushina Uzumaki"_

_Naruto felt tears well up in his eyes. He may have Kurama as a father but he sometimes wondered who his human parents were. He wiped his eyes with his hand and began to hand the photo back_

_Hiruzen shook his head "no Naruto-kun. That belongs to you more than anyone"_

_Karin asked another question "what about his father"_

_Hiruzen's face grew grim "I am afraid that I have no right to tell you that"_

_Both Uzumakis screamed "WHAT!?"_

_Hiruzen felt a burst of wind and chakra coming from Naruto's scream 'interesting'. "This was something that I have chosen to keep secret for Naruto's safety. I was unsure how well he would be able to keep this a secret as there are greater dangers that come with this knowledge. However as I see it, he would have been able to keep this to himself very well as he had kept a VERY BIG secret from me for many years and I only found out through odd means"_

_Naruto felt a bit guilty at having to keep Kurama a secret but he didn't regret it_

_Karin began to tap her foot "so you are going to keep this from him than?"_

_Hiruzen shook his head "no he will learn it from someone who has more right to tell you. In fact he is the very person that I called upon to remove that little problem of yours Naruto-kun"_

_Naruto felt elated at earning who his human father was and if he only had to wait a bit than he can wait "thanks Hokage-jiji"_

_Hiruzen smiled "now I believe that you have better things to do than talk to an old fossil like me. Karin-san I would like to speak to you at another time so when I am ready I will send an Anbu to your hotel at the time"_

_Karin nodded as her mood had improved a bit at knowing that the Uzumaki clan had not been forgotten entirely "very well Hokage-sama"_

_Both Uzumakis began to leave and at the door Naruto turned to look at the old man "Later Jiji!"_

_Hiruzen could only laugh at the attitude of the boy "I hope you never change Naruto". Hiruzen's face then grew grave when he thought about why the Uzumaki clan were not discussed in class. A thought then hit him and he let lose a little bit of KI 'they wouldn't be this stupid would they?'. He then pressed his finger on his intercom to call his secretary_

"_Hai Hokage-sama. How may I help you?"_

"_Yes I would like you to get me Iruka-san for me"_

"_Yes sir"_

_End of Flashback_

* * *

Naruto shook his head to get the event out of his head as he had finished visiting his friends and even left some flowers for them as a get well present. He would have liked to stay longer but the hospital staff would have thrown him out with some stupid reason like he was poisoning the air or something. both were unconscious and he felt that they needed to rest after their fight. Once outside he lifted his nose in the air to see if he could catch the scent of his sensei. 'Now where…*sniff sniff*...are you'. After a few more sniffs, he caught the scent and jumped away to get to him

* * *

~Memorial stone~

Once Naruto arrived he saw that Kakashi was standing in front of the memorial stone. Naruto chose to give his sensei a moment before he got his attention

Kakashi knew that Naruto had come to him to ask him about training and he was somewhat surprised that the blonde found him so quickly "how did you find me?"

Naruto was startled by the sudden question but he shook his head "I have enhanced senses Sensei. I found you by your scent"

Kakashi sweatdropped at being found like that. He turned to look at Naruto and had a stupid question he felt like asking "ok….question. What exactly do I smell like?"

Naruto blinked at this and answered "you smell like dog and paper."

Kakashi's sweatdrop grew twice in size and cleared his throat "well ...that's nice to know. Anyway what ups?"

Naruto looked into Kakashi's eyes "I need your help in my training"

Kakashi knew that the blonde would ask him this and he also wanted to help the blonde but he had been ordered by the civilian council to focus on the Uchiha. 'Biggest annoyance any of us shinobi have to deal with. Well I can still help'. "Well Naruto-kun I would like to train you for the full month but I won't be able to help you out entirely"

Naruto was hoping that Kakashi wouldn't be doing what he thought he was doing and he still felt a bit of frustration "WHY?! Because your going to train the Teme! He deserves all your time right! All because he is the great Uchiha! WELL FINE!" Naruto turned and began to stomp away but he suddenly stopped when he felt a sudden tug on his sash. Turning around he saw that Kakashi had grabbed his sash

Kakashi felt hurt at the harsh yelling and accusation Naruto sent him but he needed to calm the boy down "whoa calm down Naruto-kun. I said entirely. I had already planned something out for you"

Naruto calmed down a bit and looked at Kakashi and gave him a suspicious look "like what?"

Kakashi let go oh Naruto's sash and spoke "I already knew you would ask me to help train you but I have been given orders by the civilian council to focus on Sasuke-kun. Now calm down…." he said as he saw Naruto glare at him "yeah I know but I plan on giving you a set of training that will help you out"

"Like what?"

"Oh you will find out soon enough"

Naruto glared at Kakashi as he crossed his arms "is this going to be real training or something simple?"

Kakashi shrugged "well depends on how you see it. I'm sure this will be useful to you, though it will be difficult with your…...condition"

Naruto gave Kakashi a deadpan expression "don't make it sound like I'm sick…..."

"Sorry just not sure what to refer it to. Anyway meet me at our training grounds tomorrow morning"

Naruto's expression grew deeper "are you going to be on time or make me wait three hours ?"

Kakashi gave an eye smile "who knows?" he then disappeared in a poof of smoke

Naruto grew a tick mark "I want to prank you so hard that you lose your mind….but if what you do helps than I'll spare you…..for now" Naruto then began to walk back into the village "I need ramen"

* * *

~Meanwhile~

Ino was sitting in her room sulking and trying to get the swarm of insects out of her head. 'I know that I was fine, but I still can't handle it'

"Ino! Your sensei is here to see you!"

Ino heard her mother Noriko call her. 'Wonder what Asuma-sensei wants?'. She made her way down to the entrance of her family shop to see Asuma standing there. "Hey Asuma-sensei. What is it? Team meeting?"

Asuma pulled out a cigarette and lit it as he took a drag of it. He looked at his female genin and took notice that she was slumping a bit and her hands would tremble a bit. 'The kid was right. He must have known that she would be like this'. Letting out a puff of smoke he spoke "no. actually it's just you and me. Come on" he said as he began to walk away

Stood there confused for a second before she went to catch up "Asuma-sensei! Where are we going?"

Asuma continued to walk "you will find out"

They continued to walk until they arrived at their first destination. An Ice cream parlor

Ino looked up at Asuma with a confused look "what are we doing here?"

Asuma looked down at her "I'm treating you. I already plan on treating Choji tomorrow so today is your turn"

Ino looked at him suspiciously but decided to go with it for now and went in to get an Ice cream sundae.

After Ino had a sundae, parfait and simple cone, Asuma took her to a clothing shop where he felt his wallet become thinner and thinner as her new wardrobe grew larger and larger.

Asuma just sweatdropped as he saw Ino happily carry her new clothes back to her home 'damn it Naruto! You owe me for this'

After Ino dropped off her clothes the both of them made went off to the park where they walked a lake path. Ino was enjoying this little outing and looked at Asuma with a sly grin "you know Aauma-sensei, if I didn't know any better, I would think that this would be a date…."

Asuma tripped on air and inhaled too much of his cigarette causing him to cough hard.

Ino laughed at the reaction and smiled "thanks Asuma-sensei. I needed this"

Asuma was on his hands and knees, pounding his chest trying to get the air back in his lungs "*cough* no *cough cough* problem. Just *cough* don't say that again"

Ino chuckled at that and looked to the lake. She began to think about the last time she looked at it. She paused when a memory hit her "hey Asuma-sensei, why did you really do this for me?"

Asuma got back to his feet and cleared his throat "you seemed to be out of it from the chunin exams and I felt that you needed a way to calm your nerves"

Ino could tell that it was true but the way he did it made her think of another time "hey Asuma-sensei can we make one more stop"

Asuma would have said that she had enough but he could see a pleading look in her eyes "sure. Where to?"

Ino smiled "follow me"

* * *

~sunset~

Both Ino and Asuma made it to the top of the Hokage Monument. The sun began to drop to the horizon and the orange tint of the sky made the view of the village something to see

Asuma wondered why she wanted to come here of all places. 'I figure she would want to go buy something else. Why come here?'

Ino walked forward leaving Asuma to stand where he was. Ino made her way to the top of the fourth Hokage's head and sat down as she looked to the village. She brought her knees to her chest and just looked on

Asuma walked up to her so he was standing behind her

Ino felt Asuma come closer and asked the question again "why did you really do this Asuma-sensei?"

Asuma knew he was found out "let's say that someone told me to do this. How did you know that there was something else going on?"

Ino smiled sadly "everything you did for me today were the exact same things that Naruto does for me when I feel down". An image of Naruto sitting next to her watching the sunset appeared and she could feel a tear fall down her cheek

Asuma could tell that something was wrong "something happen between you two?"

"...I hurt him….badly and I know he will never talk to me again because of it"

Asuma stood there as he also looked towards the village "it was him that told me to do this so I don't think that your friendship is broken entirely"

"Maybe…..but I wish he would talk to me again"

* * *

~that night with Naruto~

Naruto was back in his apartment and for the first time in a very long time, he was lying in his bed, although he wished he wasn't. 'Rama-tou-chan, shouldn't I be starting to shift again? Why hasn't it started'

"**The seal that is still on you is causing it to delay. We need to get rid of it"**

'Hopefully soon! My skin feels like it's getting tighter by the second and my inside feels like it's bloating!'

"**Well when the person who is supposed to remove it gets here, get him to remove the last of it as soon as possible. I don't know what will happen if we leave this the way it is for too long. It's already been days since it's been placed. It's like a boulder blocking a river. It holds most of it back and all that flows are the small trickles"**

'Yeah. hopefully the guy gets here soon'. With that Naruto tried to fall to sleep and after a bit of struggle he fell into an uncomfortable slumber

* * *

~next day~

After the night, Naruto felt even more constricted but he powered through it as best he could. Naruto was leaning on the middle post of his team training grounds and was waiting for Kakashi to arrive. As he waited he thought back to what Neji said to him when they found out they would be fighting in the first match

* * *

_Flashback_

_Everyone had taken a number to see who would be facing who in the finals._

_Hayate told everyone to look up to the screen to see the match ups_

_Naruto's was somewhat surprised to see the line up_

_First match: Naruto Uzumaki vs Neji Hyuga_

_Second match: Sasuke Uchiha vs Gaara_

_Third match: Kankuro vs Shino Aburame_

_Fourth match: Temari vs Shikamaru Nara_

_Dosu will face the winner of the first match_

_Winner of the first match shall face the winner of the second match_

_Winner of the third match shall face the winner of the Fourth match_

_Naruto turned to Neji who was smirking at him_

_Neji walked up to Naruto "train as much as you want. You will learn that your fate has already been decided." he then began to walk out of the room._

_Naruto spoke up before he got far "when we fight in the finals….I'm going to make you bleed"_

_Neji stopped for a second but then kept walking_

_Naruto was glaring so hard at the back of Neji's head that he himself almost thought that his Bijuu fire would come out of his eyes. His glaring was stopped when he heard another condescending voice behind him_

"_Hm looks like I wont get the chance to beat you into the ground Dobe"_

_Naruto turned around to redirect his glare to Sasuke "you never got the chance to do so in the first place. All the times you beat me in spars were because I was not at 100%. If you do win your match, you will lose, like the other times"_

_Sasuke stood in front of Naruto giving his own glare and everyone thought that they would fight but Naruto just turned around and left the room as well 'I have better things to do than listen to stuck up assholes'_

_End flashback_

* * *

Naruto was brought back to the present when he caught the scent of Kakashi. Looking up he saw Kakashi land in front of him

Kakashi gave his usual eye smile "yo"

Naruto smirked a bit "your only ten minutes late"

Kakashi just chuckled at this 'well if I didn't, then I wouldn't have time for what I have planned'. "Well I'm here now so we should get started as I don't have a lot of time until I have to leave"

Naruto tilted his head in confusion "where are you going? And why can't you stay here?"

Kakashi sighed "I plan on taking Sasuke-kun out of the village to train him for the whole month."

Naruto felt some irritation on this "why does he get most of your time and I only get a small amount of time?"

Kakashi looked sternly at Naruto "Naruto. Between the two of you, who do you think is the most skilled?"

Naruto didn't know if he was being tested for a bit of humility or modesty but he Kakashi should know the answer so he answered "between me and the teme. Me"

Kakashi nodded "exactly. I agree with you. Based on skill, speed, strength, you outshine him, even with his Sharingan. I was ordered to focus on him but I'm doing it more to calm his aggressive tendencies. Now I will be teaching you some things that you can work on your own for the month and based on how good you are in learning jutsu, you could come up with some interesting ways to use it"

Naruto's irritation died down and nodded his head. 'It's better than nothing and if he believes that I can come up with some moves for it than I can do just that.'. "Ok then what are you going to teach me?"

Kakashi brought up a finger "I will be teaching you…..water walking"

Naruto face faulted at this "WATER WALKING!? How is that going to help me"

Kakashi laughed at this "well water walking is an excellent way to improve chakra control and gives you a new surface to fight on. Now I'm going to explain to you how to do this"

As Kakashi explain how to do this exercise, Naruto felt the need to prank his sensei hard. 'Make him suffer. Guy sensei as a bed buddy!. Guy-sensei destroying his book collection'.

"Now I want you to try it on the water there" Kakashi said as he pointed to the small river that runs by the training field

Naruto stomped over to the river and began to channel his chakra into his feet. He took a step onto the water and he felt that he might be able to do it. However after a few seconds he fell into the water

*SPLASH*

Kakashi laughed at Naruto as the boy came out of the water and glared at him. After a few more seconds of it he calmed down "ok, now for the real part of what I wanted to teach you"

Naruto was dripping wet and his glare was so fierce that one would think that the water would evaporate instantly. 'Make him suffer, make him suffer, make him suffer. Guy-sensei will be your partner for life!'

Kakashi pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to Naruto "I want you to channel chakra into that piece of paper"

Naruto swiped the paper out of Kakashi's hand and brought it up as he did what was asked. 'If this turns out to be something dumb, I'm pranking him for a whole year'. Naruto channeled chakra into the paper and waited for something to happen

Kakashi watch with anticipation to see what elements he would have. His only visible eye grew wide when he saw what happened

The paper split in two before both became soaked in water. Finally the water evaporated and the two slips burst into large flames

Naruto used his other hand to block his face from the sudden fire coming out of the paper. Once the paper turned to ash he looked to Kakashi "uh what exactly does that mean?"

Kakashi had many thoughts coming to his mind 'the wind element he must have gotten from sensei, the water element must be from Kushina-sama, the fire…..must be from being a pseudo bijuu…..oh boy'. Kakashi shook his head to clear his mind "that, Naruto-kun was chakra paper. It helps us know what your elemental affinity is and from the spectacle that was just shown, you have three elements. The slicing of the paper means that you have Wind element, the soaking of them is clearly water and the…...burst of flames, is obviously fire"

Naruto gave a cocky smirk and crossed his arms "that's right I'm awesome"

Kakashi chuckled at this "well it is impressive. This means that you have many areas we can work on, so tell me, which one do you want to work on first?"

Naruto thought about it for a minute before he spoke "well I already have a fire move so maybe wind. Don't know what I can do with it but I might think of something"

Kakashi nodded "ok then. As I know, you already know about using **Kage bunshin **for training so I want you to make as many clones as you can but make them so they all have a good amount of chakra each."

Naruto nodded his head and did the hand sign for it "**Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" **after massive puff of smoke, a small army of Narutos came into view.

Kakashi's eye widened at this 'so many! He might be able to finish the training sooner than I thought'. "Ok Naruto I want you to send half of them to try the water walking exercise" seeing the half make their way to the river, he immediately knew that the river was going to be covered with Narutos. 'Maybe I should have given him a number instead of saying make as many as you can'. "The rest of you, I want you to grab a leaf and I will explain what you should do with it."

* * *

~two hours later~

An Anbu landed in training ground meant for team 7 and paused at what he saw. Several trees had been plucked of their leaves and there was a field of orange, black and blonde that stretched beyond the training field and into the forest. Looking around he finally spotted what he was looking for, a small bit of silver hair in a tree looking down at the field. Jumping to the tree he spoke "Kakashi-san, the hokage has requested Naruto Uzumaki's presence."

Kakashi looked at the mod and sweatdropped "uh sure, hang on". Kakashi cupped his hands to call out "Hey Naruto!"

All of them turned to look at Kakashi "YEAH?" they all said

"Uh the real Naruto"

"WE'RE ALL REAL"

"Urgh the 'original' Naruto"

"WE'RE ALL ORIGINAL!"

Kakashi felt annoyed now "Naruto!"

A single Naruto in the crowd jumped up onto the tree with a large foxy grin on his face "hehe whats up?"

The Anbu looked between the Naruto in front of him and to the mob. Looking back at the single Naruto "you have been requested by the hokage to meet with him. He states that it's about what you requested"

The Naruto smiled wide "yes! Finally!" he said before he went up in a poof of smoke

Kakashi grew a tick mark "NARUTO!". All he could hear at that time was the mob laughing and he saw a single Naruto leaping towards the Hokage tower.

* * *

~45 minutes late~

Naruto was making his way to the hot springs as the hokage had told him that the person he was looking for would most likely be hanging around there. 'Wonder who this guy is? Hokage-jiji didn't tell me anything about him. He just said he is the most interesting man I could ever meet.' Naruto made it to the hot springs and began to look around for anyone that might be waiting for him. He didn't see anyone so he just chose to wait. After a few minutes he heard some chuckling coming from somewhere. Feeling his curiosity peek, he followed the sound and found himself looking up into a tree, that gave a view of the woman's side of the hotsprings, and saw a white haired man peeping on the woman in the bath. He couldn't help but give a stupefied look at the blatant peeping the man was doing. 'Pranking target: locked on'. He didn't have anything to make it big but he knew that sometimes the smallest things can have the biggest results. Clearing his throat he cupped his hands to his mouth and in a girly voice he screamed "EEEEEKK PEEPING TOM! What do you think your doing in that tree! You pervert!". When he finished his little squeal he jumped into the air behind the man and kicked him hard into the woman's side. Naruto landed back on the ground and walked back to the entrance as he heard the sound of women yelling and pummeling the man as he pleads for mercy.

Naruto leaned against the wall by the entrance of the hotsprings to continue waiting for the guy the hokage called. After a few minutes he sees the peeping tom limping out of the hotsprings. Naruto couldn't help but smile at the punishment he got.

The man looked over to Naruto and gave an indignant look "you brat! You cost me valuable research data" he said as he pulled out a small black notebook that was shredded and soaked

Naruto deadpanned "since when is peeping on women 'research'? Your nothing but a pervert"

"Hey I am NOT a pervert"

Naruto got in his face "oh yeah! then what are you?!"

The man got a goofy look on his face and brought his hands up to his chest and began wiggling them in a weird manner "I'm a SUPER pervert"

Naruto felt like his brain just shut down at the amazingly stupid confession he just heard '...uh'

The man crossed his arms and gained a smug look on his face "and what I was doing was research for my book series." he then reached into his red haori (I feel like I get haoris mixed up with another piece of clothing) and pulled out a familiar green book

Naruto pointed at the book "hey that's the book that Kakashi-sensei is always reading! Your the one who writes those? Who are you anyway you pervert"

The man grew a grin "who am I?"he began to do a weird shogan dance as music began to play in the background. Bouncing on one foot he struck a pose with his hand stretched forward, hand open while his other hand was stretched behind him in a similar manner "I shall tell you my naive friend.". He then grabbed his bangs and swung his head around so his hair would swing in a circle behind him "I am the envy of all men in the north, south, east and west. The man all women want to be with", he tossed a large scroll in the air and brought his hand in a two finger hand sign "one of the Legendary Sannin." he summoned an orange toad with blue markings as he stood on top of it "tamer of toads! Jiraiya! That's me!" he said as he entered his earlier hand pose

Naruto had his eyes in lines as he gave an unimpressed "erm". 'This guy is interesting. Wait! Is this the guy Hokage-jiji requested!?...no'

Jiraiya stayed in his pose as gloom fell upon him

Naruto just turned around and began to walk away

A random crow began to fly overhead "Aho….Aho…..Aho"

Jiraiya felt his ego crack and fall apart at the lack of reaction from the boy '...ouch'. He turned around and ran after the boy "hey wait!"

Naruto stopped and gave a sigh at this 'why me?'

"**...kit don't forget that if this ningen is the one the old man says can remove the seal than we have to get him to do it…"**

'Urgh fine' he turned to look at Jiraiya "are you the guy that Hokage-jiji said can help me with my problem?" 'say no say no say no'

Jiraiya looked at Naruto "he had called me back to the village but he hasn't really given me any details on exactly why"

Naruto was relieved 'at least jiji kept it a secret. Still don't want others to know yet'. He pulled up his black shirt and showed the three remaining kanji on his stomach "I need you to get this off me"

Jiraiya knelt down to look closely at the seal 'hmm this looks like the remains of a five pronged seal. Sensei must have removed the other two ...but where is the 8 trigram seal?' "hey kid channel chakra for me"

Naruto looked down "look there is a lot you don't know and if you are trustworthy I'll tell you some of it but right now I just need you to remove this stupid seal, it's messing me up pretty bad"

Jiraiya gave him a skeptical look 'he's hiding something ...and he seems to know that this seal is causing him problems. Hopefully it's nothing bad ...and this might be a good start at repairing a non-existent relation'. "Alright kid. Hold still" he said as he began to bring up chakra to his fingers

"**KIT WAIT!"**

Naruto jumped back just in time to avoid the impact from Jiraiya

Jiaray went spinning with the momentum of his swing and after he spun around he landed ungracefully onto his back

Naruto would have thought what happened in front of him would be funny but he was at the moment talking to Kurama 'what's wrong Tou-chan?'

"**Remember that you should have shifted back already and this seal is the only thing keeping you in you human form. If he releases it now you could start your shift the second it's gone and you are right now in public. We should wait until night where you are in your apartment and get that Hana woman to be there in case as I don't know what will happen."**

'Well I hope that it works, cause my skin feels like I'm wearing clothes that are three sizes too small'. He looked over to Jiraiya who was now dusting himself off "sorry about that but can you remove it tonight. It would be better for everyone if we did it than"

Jiraiya scowled at the boy "there's more to it than what you let on…..but fine. What do you plan to do till then"

Naruto jabbed his finger to the direction of his teams training ground "I'm in the middle of training for the finals of the chunin exams"

Jiraiya smirked well maybe I can help. With my infinite wisdom I could make you into a mighty Shinobi like me" he said as he placed a hand on his chest

Naruto sweatdropped at this "well I'm already a powerhouse of a shinobi but if you can help in my training, than I guess so"

Jiraiya smirked again "lead the way and I'll help you in it"

Naruto smirked "fine lets go Ero-sennin". He laughed as he saw Jiraiya facefault

* * *

~Training grounds~

Jiraiya could honestly say he was shocked. When they got to the training grounds, he couldn't see any ground just a horde of blondes. He spotted Kakashi sitting in a tree watching them do their work. Seeing Naruto join his clones, Jiraiya leapt up to the tree to sit next to Kakashi "so, you the one to tell him about this method of training?"

Kakashi looked up from his book to address Jiraiya "actually it seems that he found this on his own. I'm just using it to allow him to learn as much as possible. Have you checked the seal on him yet?"

Jiraiya nodded his head "yeah I have but before I could remove it, he moved out of the way" he crossed his arms and had a grim look on his face "he is hiding something and I'm worried that it has to do with the kyuubi. I didn't even see the fourths seal on him and that worries me"

Kakashi looked at Jiraiya 'I'm not sure how he is going to handle what happened to Naruto-kun but I hope he doesn't react badly'. "Trust me the secret he holds is not as bad as you might think. Did he ask when to remove the seal?"

Jiraiya nodded "yeah he wants me to do it tonight. He said it would be better for everyone, I just can't see why. Unless it lets out a burst of the kyuubi's chakra that could cause panic"

Kakashi sweatdropped at how accurate the assumption could be "well it should be fine. Anyway, I can only stay for about another hour. Do you mind taking over his training?"

Jiraiya smiled at Kakashi "that was the plan from the start. So from what I can tell he seems to be working on wind nature chakra manipulation. Anything else"

Kakashi decided to give him a rundown of what he learned, from the boy's elemental affinities and water walking. Anything else Jiraiya will learn when he trains with the boy

* * *

~that night~

Jiraiya felt confused as he watch Naruto placing privacy tags in his apartment. Not only that but there was a female Inuzuka who he learned was named Hana. "so kid, what is this all about? Anyway. Don't get me wrong this woman is really attractive but I don't think I'm keen on watching what you two do". This comment got him a hit to the back of his head from said woman

Hana looked angered at what Jiraiya was insinuating but right now she was not looking forward to this. "Naruto-kun, is there anyway to make this go more smoothly?"

Naruto finished placing the last tag as he turned to the adults "nope. I wish there was but I haven't been given another means. I was also told that this might hurt more since the seal on me is keeping me this way longer than I should"

Hana paled a bit at that "you are not doing anything tomorrow than!"

Naruto nodded "I don't think I'll have the energy to do so"

Jiraiya now felt worried on how the conversation is going "ok gaki, what are you two talking about?"

Naruto shook his head "it's a lot easier to just see it. I honestly don't want anyone else to know or deal with this but you are the only one who can remove the seal. Just …..whatever happens don't try and stop it." he turned to Hana "you know you could wait outside until he gets you, you know."

Hana's shook her head "if you say this is going to hurt you more than I think I can at least ease it a bit with what I know of medical Jutsu"

Jiraiya was now feeling dread. 'What do they think will happen?'

Naruto went to his room and returned wearing only a pair of shorts and a small metal bar "Remember don't do anything to stop it". He placed the metal bar in between his teeth and nodded

Jiraiya lifted his hand and three of his fingers lit up with kanjis "**Five elements Seal Release!"** he slammed his hand into Naruto's stomach and removed the last of the seal from him.

The hit pushed Naruto back so much that his back hit the wall. He fell to his hands and knees and began to feel his body start to burn. He bit down hard on the bar as the pain started to increase more "gggrrrrr" he fell to lay on his side as he began to convulse 'GODDAMMIT! IT HURTS'

"**Easy kit. Just like before try and endure it"**

Red chakra burst from Naruto's body like a fire that engulfed his body and Naruto began to flail about kicking his table and chairs away. Hard enough to shatter them against the walls.

Jiraiya looked wide eyed "what the hell!" he began to go through handsigns to try and subdue any of the kyuubi chakra he could but a hand gripped his wrist to stop him

Hana held firmly on Jiraiya's wrist "don't!"

"But the Kyuubi is breaking free!"

Hana shook her head "no. it's not the kyuubi, it's just him" Hana made her way to Naruto trying her best to avoid the red chakra but it flared again pushing her back. "Damn it I can't help him in this until that chakra dies down"

After a few minutes the metal bar Naruto was biting down on shattered from the force of the bite and the corrosion of the chakra "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH"

Hana had a tear roll down as it had begun "I can't help him in this."

Jiraiya stood there, feeling sick at what was happening and hearing the blood curdling screams coming from the boy "what is going on here!"

Hana kept watching "this is the burden that he has to go through"

An hour later, Jiraiya could see that Naruto was going through some changes. The boys hair was slowly changing color, small hairs were growing on him, his mouth seemed to be pushing forward.

One thing that surprised them both was that he was getting bigger

The red chakra stopped swirling, leaving burn marks all around the kitchen, dining room and the flowers that were around the place turned to ash.

Hana moved over to Naruto as he kept flailing and grabbed his wrists and held him down. She turned her head to look at the stunned Sanin "don't just stand there help me hold him down!"

Jiraiya shook his head and quickly went over and helped hold his arms. Now closer he saw that Naruto was growing a muzzle and his hair was now getting an orange tint with some plack lines going down his back to what looked like tails were growing "I need to seal him NOW!"

Hana glared at the man "don't even think about doing anything to him! We will explain later but right now hold his arms" pulling her hands off Naruto's wrists she began to channel medical chakra into her hands and tried to ease the pain

"AAARGH AAAHH GGRRR**RRRR"**

Hana looked down sadly at the boy "easy Naruto-kun. You can get through this"

* * *

~hours later~

Jiraiya watch buffudled as the Inuzuka woman was tending to a large five tailed fox two times the boys original size. Throughout the whole ordeal Jiraiya had insisted on placing a seal on Naruto to stop the Kyuubi from taking over but he was stopped everytime by Hana. He felt some fear towards the fox but when he looked at Hana, he didn't see any fear at all, only concern.

Hana was trying to ease the pain the boy was in and hoping the heavy breathing he was doing would ease a bit. She was shocked to see the size increase but her concern for his well being out did her curiosity

Jiraiya crossed his arms and gave an angry look "ok mind telling me what is going on here?"

Hana continued to focus on Naruto "Hokage-sama knows more about this than I do but I can tell you that Naruto-kun…..isn't human"

Jiraiya quirked an eyebrow "I'm listening"

* * *

~Naruto's mindscape~

Naruto slowly opened his eyes to see he was in the open field of his mind. Shifting his eyes to the sky, he looked at the moon and smiled.

"**Good to see you again kit"**

Naruto shifted his head to look above him to see Kurama laying down and looking at him "Hey Rama-Tou-chan". He got to his feet and walked over to Kurama and sat on his haunches in front of him while his tails wagged a bit at see Kurama again

Kurama leaned down to nuzzle his kit. He pulled back and grew serious "**kit. Remember when I said I would tell you who removed the fourths seal when you got that snakes seal off"** Seeing his kit nod he continued "**well now that you are here it's time you met him"**. Kurama gestured his head behind Naruto

Naruto turned around to see a man with spiky blonde hair, two bangs framing his face. He wore a standard Jonin jacket over a blue shinobi body suit. Finishing the outfit was a long white cloak with orange flames at the bottom.

Naruto recognized the man in front of him as the fourth hokage but what the man said made all his thoughts stop

"Hello my son"

* * *

And there's the end of the chapter

So made some obvious changes and have other changes planned for the finals of the chunin exams.

I didn't want Hiruzen to seem completly incompetent so I tried to make it so he had been honoring Uzushiogakure but not sure if I conveyed that well. Karin is still around and spoilers: I plan on her staying. Not a very big spoiler but it's there

The Sasuke training thing still happens but I wanted Kakashito give Naruto something to work with and Ebisu didn't show up.

The intro for Jiraiya was something that I wanted close to the original but with some different dialogue. And I wanted to and the crow at some point in the story just cause I always thought it was stupidly funny

For the size increase, I have a reason ...not a very good one but I wanted to do it for a small moment later on.

Should I do a chapter on the training or have it go to the big event of the finals and we see the end results only

Next chapter will be a meeting that Naruto never expected to have


	29. Meeting and prep for the finals

Naruto: hey FR

FR: yeah?

Naruto: I read your ideas and I think that you are out of your mind

FR: …...maybe I am but it's how I saw it

Naruto:...ok but i don't like it

FR: -_- after all the crap I put you through, you now say that….?

Naruto: *shrugs*

FR: *sigh* go get Jiraiya. He should be by the ladies changing rooms *watches Naruto leave*. Ok everyone one we are about to start

Women: EEEEEEEKKKKK

FR: *sweatdrop* once Jiraiya gets here…..oh here he comes. Well let's begin

* * *

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

(author comment)

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, it's owned by one wiser than me

* * *

Chapter 29: Meeting and prep for the finals

Kurama looked between the blonde ningen and the smaller fox as they stared at each other. He didn't know what to expect from the two, although he was more concerned by what his kit would do as Naruto was now face to face with his real father. He chose to let Naruto learn the full truth sooner than he would have liked but he had told his kit that he would and now all he can do is wait.

Naruto's brain tried to register what he had just heard from the fourth hokage. 'He called me….son...but…..'. He looked behind him to look at Kurama with a look of shock and then back to the fourth. "Wha…?"

Minato chuckled "it seems that the big fuzzball never told you about me. I thought he would at least mention me but it seems that he kept it to himself"

Naruto looked again at Kurama "is he telling the truth?". Kurama nodded his head which caused Naruto's eyes to grow wide "so my dad….was the one…..that put you in me….." he said as more of a statement than a question.

Kurama could feel Naruto's increased agitation and got ready for what he was about to do

Minato waited for a reaction from Naruto, whether it was good or bad, he didn't know but he got his answer when Naruto turned back to him and charged at him.

Naruto leapt at Minato and opened his Maw ready to bite down on Minato

* * *

~Meanwhile at the hokage's office~

Jiraiya was standing in front of the Hokage with his arms crossed and glaring at the old man. He had just gotten the full story from Hiruzen and was gritting his teeth from what the kid went through "so he is a bijuu? And he has been one for over four years because some idiot thought it was a good idea to kill a kid."

Hiruzen sighed deeply. This was not a story he enjoyed telling and it hurt him, knowing that it was one of his own shinobi that did it. All he could say was "yes"

Jiraiya clenched his fist hard trying to reign in his anger. Taking a deep breath he calmed down a bit "what was done with the man?" he asked with a small ting of anger in his voice.

Hiruzen leaned back in his chair "he is dead. After he was apprehended, he was put in one of our interrogation rooms. After a few sessions from one our best interrogators, he was chained to the wall and left alone. The next morning, he was found dead, bleeding from several areas of his body which was later incinerated. Though it pains me that I had to do that to one of my shinobi, his actions against a child were unforgivable"

Jiraiya nodded "and he is alive because of the kyuubi. And you say he has a sort of good relation with it"

Hiruzen's depressing aura lifted as he smiled "very much so. Although he hasn't told me the measure of his relations with the kyuubi, when the five elemental seal was placed on him, he looked like he had lost someone precious. When I removed what I could, for the first time he had shown me actual respect and believe me, that is something remarkable"

Jiraiya gave a small smile before it disappeared "I think that it's risky to trust it though. What if it's all a ploy to just get the kid to release it"

Hiruzen looked to Jiraiya and gave a somewhat knowing smile "ah. You see Jiraiya-kun…..the fourth's seal has already been released"

Jiraiya's eyes grew so wide that they looked they might pop out "WHAT!?"

"Haven't you noticed that it is no longer visible?"

Jiraiya was still wide eyed but paused as he thought back to when he examined the five element seal. 'Minato's seal should have revealed itself after I channeled my chakra to the five elements seal, but it wasn't there.' in a shaky voice he asked "h-how?"

Hiruzen shook his head "I do not know the full details but Inoichi had reported to me that it forced the seal to break at the time of Naruto's death. I could tell that there was more to what happened but Inoichi had chosen not to tell me"

Jiraiya crossed his arms and sighed "you seem to be putting a lot of blind faith in the kid"

Hiruzen chuckled "I have learned that if you should place your bets on anyone it should be Naruto-kun and his unpredictability"

Jiraiya smiled at this "...yeah"

Hiruzen's face then grew serious "I have heard that you will be training the boy for his part in the finals of the chunin exams" seeing Jiraiya nod he continued "good, there is something more I wish for you to do for me"

Jiraiya quirked an eyebrow "and what's that?"

"Orochimaru is here in the village"

Jiraiya grew more serious "tell me everything"

* * *

~back within Naruto's mindscape~

Kurama was trying his hardest not to laugh at what he was seeing

"Ow! Naruto! Please let go! That hurts!

"FO!"

Kurama was watching Minato running around the moonlit flower field with Naruto, who for some reason shrunk down to a chibi form, biting down on Minato's head. Kurama would have stopped it but it was too amusing to stop

After another ten minutes of this, Naruto finally let go and landed on his paws before sitting on his haunches. He watched as Minato held his head in pain and also trying to get the slobber out of his hair

Minato finally got his head to stop hurting so much but he could still feel some slobber in his hair. He looked at Naruto and gave a sad smile at what he was looking at. "I can see you've grown. Although I can't really tell how old you are"

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows and in a quick flash he was in his human form.

Minato gave a sad smile at his son as he was looking at what he would have looked like on a normal basis, if Naruto didn't have to be saved that fateful day, instead of it being a disguise. "You've grown since the last time I saw you"

Naruto just gave Minato a soft glare at the man

Minato sat down on the grass and looked around "I have to say that this place looks a lot better since the last time I have seen it"

Naruto didn't react and just stood there

Minato could see the anger in Naruto's eyes and knew that no matter what he said, it wouldn't change the hell the boy must have gone through so looking down he at least tried "Naruto…..I know nothing I say will get you to forgive me for the burden I placed on you but….."

"...Shut up"

Minato looked up to see Naruto walking up to stand in front of him

Naruto tilted his head down a bit so he could look at Minato since the man was still sitting "because of you, every villager hates me. I can't go anywhere without ten of them looking at me with hatred in their eyes. They treat me like the plague, whispering about me thinking I can't hear them. They kept their kids away from me as if I would corrupt them"

Minato could feel his heart break with every word his son said. He knew that it was his choice that caused all this

Naruto was shaking with anger "why did you do it? Why did you seal him in me?!"

Minato should have known that Naruto would have asked this. He felt that he deserved to know this "ok Naruto. The day you were born….."

* * *

~Unknown location~

Danzo stood in a dark empty room, that only had one light shining down on him and his guest "are your preparations ready?"

The guest nodded his head slightly as to not shake off the hod that covered his face "yes, Orochimaru-sama has everything ready for the finals of the chunin exams. All that we require are your….donations."

Without any prompting from Danzo, a few of his Root Agents appeared behind him "these are the ones I have chosen for your request"

The hooded figure looked them over "are you sure you are ok with losing them?"

Danzo spoke in an emotionless voice "they are merely weapons, and not my finest. If I must break a few of my weapons to reach my goal, so be it"

None of his agents made any reaction, which interested the hooded figure "you have trained them well. I will inform Orochimaru-sama about this." the hooded figure turned to walk away as he had finished his business

* * *

~back with Naruto and Minato~

Naruto stood there, staring at Minato, with his mind going through everything he had heard. He felt anger, but he didn't know who he was angry at. Minato for putting this massive burden on his shoulders, the Sandaime for keeping this from him for so long or the masked man that attacked the village on the day of his birth. He lifted his fist ready to strike Minato in the face to release every bit of his anger on the one in front of him

Minato saw that Naruto was about to hit him, and he chose to take the hit ...but Naruto stopped

Naruto had his fist raised, ready to strike but he couldn't move his arm. His fist began to tremble as he gritted his teeth as if fighting against himself on the action. After a few seconds his breathing got heavy and he threw his hand down "ARGH!". He looked down with his hair shadowing his eyes "I WANT to hate you. I want to throw all my anger at you" his body began to tremble as his voice started to break "I want so badly to beat you up"

Minato could only look on sadly at his son as the boy looked so vulnerable. After a few more seconds he was shocked at what Naruto did

Naruto leapt forward and wrapped his arms around Minato's neck in a hug "but I can't" he said in a soft broken voice "I can't hate you for what you did. I can't hit you for it. I want to be angry at you but….."

Minato slowly brought his arms to bring his son into a soft hug "I'm sorry Naruto"

"Don't. You gave me Ram-tou-chan. He has looked out for me since you couldn't do it and he is always there for me"

Minato smirked as his eyes shifted to the kyuubi "'Rama-tou-chan' huh?"

Kurama shifted turned his head away and gave a huff "**only he gets to call me that, so don't get any funny ideas"**

Minato smiled wider "either way, thank you for being there for him when I couldn't"

Kurama couldn't stop the smile from appearing on his face but it dropped when he decided that the second person needed to make an appearance "**I think we should bring her in this now"**

Naruto pulled back from the hug he gave his father and looked towards Kurama with a tilt of the head "who?"

Minato felt a little bit apprehensive at who the kyuubi was referring to 'how is she going to take what happened to Naruto'. He then got up and stretched out his hand towards Naruto.

Naruto had no clue on what he was doing but after a few seconds a light came out of Naruto and began to form behind him. Once it was done Naruto turned around to look at the woman he had seen in the picture Hiruzen

"Hello Naru-kun"

Naruto smiled and jumped at her to give her a hug

Kushina smiled, looking down at her son son. She had wanted to stay like this for awhile but she noticed someone else standing in front of her. Looking up she saw it was Minato "Minato-kun? What's going on?"

Minato rubbed the back of his head "well my original plan for Naruto, has changed since the kyuubi isn't going to be a problem for him…"

Kushina quirked an eyebrow and saw that Minato was looking behind her. Turning her head to look behind her, she saw that the Kyuubi was just sitting there with no gate in front of it.

Naruto was still hugging his mother and he felt her tense up. 'Uh oh'

Kushina's reaction was instantaneous, she pushed Naruto behind her and activated her chains that came out from the ground behind the kyuubi and wrapped around his neck torso and arms.

Kurama felt himself being pulled to fall on his back. As he was falling he gave a panicked "**I hate these chains!"** before he slammed into the ground, struggling to get up

Naruto rushed to stand in front of Kushina with his hands in front of him to calm his mother down "Mom! It's ok, he isn't dangerous!"

"**Wanna say that again Kit?!"** Kurama yelled even from being pinned to the ground

Turning to look back at Kurama he gave a mild glare "shut up. You're not helping" turning back to Kushina "it's ok you can let him go. He isn't going to hurt me"

Kushina looked down at Naruto and questioned "how do you know that?"

Minato walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder "Kushi-chan…..the thing is….."

* * *

~real world, Naruto's apartment~

Hana had chosen to stay with Naruto for the day to make sure that he didn't do anything strenuous. So far it was midday and Naruto hadn't woken up and Hana had moved him to his bed, over the covers. She would examine him every so often to make sure that nothing is wrong, what interested her was that for a while now he had been changing moods. First he was growling in his sleep,then whine, afterwards he would start wagging his tails. She thought it was sort of cute that he would do that. "I wonder what he is dreaming about to cause all these different emotions"

She was brought out of her thoughts when Jiraiya came in through the window "hey how's the kid?"

Hana huffed and placed her hands on her hips "there's a door you know"

Jiraiya waved off her comment and looked towards Naruto, who was wagging his tails "it's still hard to wrap my head around the fact that he is a pseudo bijuu. It might change how I train him"

Hana glared at Jiraiya "no matter what he is still Naruto-kun!"

Jiraiya brought his hands up in surrender "ok ok don't bite my head off. It's just…...I've never heard of this happening before"

"Just treat him like you would normally or I will have my ninken treat you as a new chew toy"

Jiraiya didn't like the idea so he nodded his head rapidly

* * *

~20 minutes later in Naruto's mindscape~

Naruto sat next to Kurama, who was freed from the chains, watching another spectacle in front of them

Kushina had Minato by the collar, shaking him as fast as she could and her hair floating behind her making them look like the kyuubi tails. Naruto wondered if that was a trait she got for being Kurama's previous container

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY BABY BOY WAS KILLED WHEN HE WAS EIGHT! WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE IS NOT HUMAN ANYMORE! YOU BETTER START MAKING SENSE RIGHT NOW MINATO!

"K-kushi-ch-chan. Pl-plea-se s-s-s-stop!"

"NO! EXPLAIN NOW BEFORE I BEAT THE ANSWER OUT OF YOU!"

Naruto could feel his laughter trying to leave him but he held it in as best he could but it was becoming harder the longer he watched this. After a few more moments he could keep it in anymore and he started rolling in the grass laughing as hard as he could. He laughed so hard that he unconsciously turned back into a fox

Kushina heard laughing coming from Naruto and paused as she turned to look at him, only to stop everything as she saw smaller multi-tailed fox with black pattern on him laughing. She dropped Minato, who fell in a heap on the ground and she made her way to the smaller laughing fox.

Naruto finally stopped his laughing and gathered got his breathing to stop. Once he got back up and sitting on his haunches he jolted his head back when he saw his mother staring eye level with him so close. He looked down and noticed that he was in his fox form 'uh oh'. He looked up to meet his mother's gaze "Uh…"

"SO CUTE!"

Naruto was suddenly glomped by his mother as she started to pet the top of his head. He didn't know what to think really. He wasn't afraid of her not accepting him nor was he afraid that she would hate him. He wasn't sure why but his gut told him not to be "so uh…"

Kushina pulled back and looked him over "well you look a lot better than the oversized carpet over there" she said as she pointed to Kurama

Naruto chuckled at this and looked at Kurama who had a grumpy look on his face "carpet?"

"**Don't you start!"**

Naruto looked back to his mother and smiled "was he this grumpy when you held him?"

Kushina nodded with a smile on her face "he was always yelling about getting free and all that"

Minato had finally gotten the swirls out of his eyes and walked over to sit by Kushina

Naruto looked at the two and didn't know where to begin so he just asked "what were you guys like?"

Both his parents smile and Kushina started "well, how about I start with my pranks against the jonin squads…."

* * *

~20 minutes later~

The three of them talked about small things they did throughout their lives. They avoided the more serious parts as none of them wanted to sour the time they were having. Right now Naruto was telling them about his pranking of the hyuga clan

"...afterwards the elder had to go home in clown clothes and makeup hahaha"

Kushina was laughing at the prank while Minato held in a chuckle.

Minato shook his head at how the two seemed to make headaches for the village "and you were able to do this without seals? Must have taken a lot of practice to aim clothing in such a way to land perfectly on the person"

Naruto nodded his head "yeah. Took a lot of practice, good timing and **Kage bunshin**. Would it be easier to do it with seals though?"

Minato felt dread for the village, since he just let his prankster son know that seals would make it easier.

Kushina gained a large smile "yep! I used seals for my pranks when I did them Dattebane!"

Naruto smiled at the verbal tic his mother had. It meant that his tic was inherited and even though he had been trying to get rid of it for a while, he felt closer to his mother with it. "Than I should learn how to use seals Dattebayo!"

Kushina hugged Naruto after hearing his verbal tic and smiled as she petted him. He wagged his tails, which was both weird and pleasing to her

While in the hug, Naruto turned his head towards his father "do you know who could teach me seals?"

Minato now knew that the village was doomed to fall prey to the many knew pranks his son will unleash "you can ask Jiraiya-sensei, to teach you. He should be able to teach you much since he taught me and he is your godfather"

Naruto furrowed his brow "Ero-sennin is?"

Kushina giggled at the name "yep that name fits perfectly for him"

Minato chuckled before his face became somber "Kushi-chan, Naruto…..it's almost time"

Kushina's smile fell from her face and she pulled back from Naruto

Naruto looked confused from the statement "what do you mean?"

Kushina gave a sad smile "our time is almost up Naru-kun…"

Naruto's eyes grew wide as he began to become frantic "what?! But why?! Can't you stay longer?! Why do you have to go so soon?!"

Minato looked sad at his sons reaction "the chakra I used to allow us to meet like this is almost used up"

Naruto looked up at Kurama who sat behind him to allow the three to enjoy their time together "can't you do something?! Like give them chakra so they can stay longer!"

Kurama shook his head "**sorry kit but they are chakra constructs that will fade no matter what. I have been keeping them here as long as I could but their time is almost up"**

"Can't you do anything?" he asked as tears came down his muzzle

"**I could seal them again but the next time they will only have a few minutes, maybe less"**

Naruto felt his heart drop. He wanted more time. He wanted to talk to them more but he knew he was asking for too much. Looking down to the ground he gave a small nod "...ok"

Naruto looked back at his father and mother and did the only thing he wanted to do right now. He jumped at the two and gave them a hug. As he hugged them he shifted back into his human form "I don't want you to go"

Minato and Kushina hugged him back as a few tears fell from their face as well. Kushina spoke first "I know Naru-kun but we have to go. And besides we will see each other again"

Minato smiled at this "yeah, it won't be for long but we will see you again"

Kurama looked down at the three '**this is the family you could have had if it wasn't for me'**. He then began to put the chakra constructs back into where they were once sealed.

Naruto felt his parents leave his arms and opened his eyes as the tears fell down his face. He looked up and saw the chakra particles fly off in one direction. They looked like fireflies dancing in the moonlit field and he couldn't help but smile 'see you guys later'

Kurama moved forward so he was directly behind Naruto "**you'll see them again"**

Naruto sat down, not looking at Kurama and nodded as he watched the particles fly away

"I know"

* * *

~a couple of days later~

Both Naruto and Jiraiya were standing in an open field training ground. It was one of Hiruzen's personal training grounds so the both of them had privacy from everyone. Naruto stood in front of Jiraiya with a blank expression

Jiraiya couldn't help but feel like he was being judged by the boy. It had been two days since Naruto woke up from his full day coma and he was ready to begin training the kid but he needed to know what was wrong "uh...you ok kid?"

Naruto lifted his head to sniff the air for anyone else but was satisfied that it was only him and the sannin. "So your suppose to be my godfather huh"

Jiraiya felt his entire body shut down with that statement 'how did he…..?'.

Before Jiraiya could react to anything, Naruto undid the henge, leapt at Jiraiya and clamped his mouth on the sannin's head

"OW! Damn it kid let go!"

"Grrr"

"Argh you ruining my hair! The chicks love the hair! Don't ruin it for me!"

Jiraiya spent the next thirty minutes trying to pull the five tailed fox off his head but Naruto's grip was strong and his teeth dug deep. It was only after the thirty five minute mark where Naruto decided that they needed to get the training done and let go of the sannin

* * *

~1 week later~

Naruto was laying on the ground breathing heavily as Jiraiya looked down on the boy with a cocky smirk "I'm *pant* going *Pant* to *pant* make you *wheeze* pay"

Jiraiya's smirk only grew as he wiped off a small bit of blood from a cut he received during their spar 'note to self: never underestimate the kid'. The spar was simple, Naruto only needed to land a solid hit on Jiraiya while all the sannin would do is dodge. He only received that cut at the beginning since he was not expecting the kid to move that fast. Especially since the kid was wearing seals on his arms and legs that weighed him down. It was a bit of a gamble on the boy since he wasn't sure if the weights would do anything on him but to his surprise it still works. He figured that it was due to Naruto having to pump more chakra into his limbs in order to move and in turn the effects were just like if they were used on normal muscles. "Ok kid I think it's time for a break"

Naruto would have protested but right now he didn't have the energy to move since he had been throwing strikes at the man for a bit over an hour non-stop "fine. But when are you going to show me how to do seals?"

Jiraiya chuckled at this "when you get your calligraphy up to my standards. Anyway how is your wind nature manipulation?"

Naruto moved his head up to look at Jiraiya "don't know yet. None of them have dispelled but I think I should try harder" he turned his head to look to his right as he stared at the many trees that no longer have leaves "the village won't be called 'the village hidden in the leaves' if there are no more leaves to hide in"

Jiraiya chuckled at this "well the sooner you get this stage done the sooner you can get to the next stage. I'm surprised that you don't have a group working on water nature or fire nature"

Naruto looked up to the sky "I already have a move with fire and…...I don't know why but I want to do water on my own. Like I want to enjoy it a bit"

Jiraiya nodded "well take a breather for now. I'm going to go check some 'things' out" he then disappeared in a cloud of smoke

Naruto lifted his head to glare at the spot Jiraiya was standing "and I bet these 'things' are near a hotspring or the public bathhouse. Pervert"

* * *

~meanwhile at the hospital~

Hitomi was walking out of the hospital with her daughter at her side "you did your best Hinata-chan, and you made it to the preliminaries. You should be proud of yourself for getting so far"

Hinata smiled at her mother's words. She looked up at her "I am proud of making it that far" her smile dropped at her next words "although father was disappointed that I didn't make it to the finals"

Hitomi's good mood soured at this and she bent down to place a kiss on the top of her daughters head "your father doesn't understand that you had held back in your fight with Neji-kun"

Hinata looked surprised that her mother said that "who told you that?"

"I met your sensei when we both visited. You were still unconscious at the time and the two of us spoke about how your fight went. She mentioned that someone had said that you were holding back in the fight as you did not want to hurt your family"

Hinata tilted her head "who?"

Hitomi smiled wide "the boy you have a crush on"

Hinata's face went to atomic red in an instant and she turned her head down so her bangs hid her eyes as she poked her index fingers together "I um….well"

Hitomi thought to tease her daughter more "he's the one that gave you that five tailed fox plushie isn't he?"

Hinata began to panic as she stared wide eyed at her mother "H-h-how did y-y-you kn-know that!?"

Hitomi giggled "the fact that you cuddle with it every night gave me a hint" 'and since it was a multi tailed fox was another hint. Though I wonder about the black streaks on it. It must be that he thought it looked good'

* * *

~hokage office~

Hiruzen was right now discussing an important detail with Zabuza. "So will you be willing to help out during that time?"

Zabuza grunted as he crossed his arms "sure. I owe a debt to one of yours and I aim to pay it back. Also I need to since the Mizukage will be coming to watch the finals"

Hiruzen was surprised at this "she is accepting my invitation? I would have assumed that she wouldn't come as none of the teams she sent made it to the finals"

Zabuza scoffed "yeah well she also wanted to talk about creating an allegiance with Konoha for their unintentional help with the rebellion."

Hiruzen quirked an eyebrow "oh and how did we unintentionally help you?"

"The blonde gaki gave me the chance to bring in the needed money to put the war in our favor. It was this that has made the Mizukage want to form an alliance with you as well as having your help in some things that need to be done back home. She also wants to meet the gaki"

Hiruzen leaned back in his chair as he pulled out his pipe. After lighting it he blew out a puff of smoke "that boy is as unpredictable as ever, even if he doesn't know what he has done"

* * *

End of chapter

I swear this chapter was somewhat hard to do

When I finished the first draft it was much much much shorter than I would have liked. I had to rework the meeting with Minato and Kushina to make it somewhat longer and added small bits about what danzo was doing. What is going on with Hinata and the meeting Hiruzen had with Zabuza.

This chapter is still shorter than I would like but meh.

FO = NO

Now for some things about this chapter I want to bring up

I added that little bit of Naruto's training as a way to fill this up and to show you that Jiraiya is taking his training seriously…...sort of. The thing is that a lot of fics depict Jiraiya abandoning Naruto to do his own thing but I wanted to be more that he puts in the time to train him

This is more on someone asking why the fourths seal was no longer visible. From what I could gather, when a seal has been broken or released, the marking of the seal vanishes as well. From my memory of the show, after Naruto unlocked Minato's seal, it was never shown again. I can only assume that the marking for it is now gone and Kurama was obviously staying in Naruto by choice. So since the seal was released years ago in the fic, it won't be on Naruto's body. I might be wrong on the seal thing but think of Sai's tongue seal. It disappeared when broken

Naruto doesn't hate Minato because he already figured that his father was dead but he just didn't know who he was. He was angry for what Minato did because of the life he led but he couldn't hate it since because of the sealing, Kurama was there with Naruto so he could let him off a bit.

Kushina's reaction to Kurama was natural since she didn't know that he was free and her original intention was to help Naruto gain the foxes power

The last bit about the two being able to see Naruto again but only for a few minutes was more of a wish of mine. Not on the story but…..think about it. What would you give to have a few more minutes with someone you lost. Those few minutes I believe would be cherished and something a lot of people would want so I decided to give Naruto that chance

The weights thing was something I always wanted to do with Naruto but I began to think on if it would work or not. Naruto is now a being made up of mostly chakra so would it even matter. But I came up with the idea of having to put more chakra in the limbs to make it work and in a sort of way it makes sense. He will just have more chakra in his limbs making him faster and stronger. At least that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it

For Hinata and Hitomi was done as I haven't put much on Hinata's mother and I wanted to bring up the fox plushie again. It was a whim

Next chapter will be the start of the finals. Neji vs Naruto. I have something planned for it and I have had the idea in my head for a while. Now I get a chance to use it

Please read and review


	30. It's Fate

FR: Prepare the fortress! Block those windows and make sure to fortify the doors

FR clone: Sir! The food supply is ready for when the time comes

FR: how's the water supply?

FR clone 2: enough to last the coming army ...hopefully

FR: we will survive the coming attack

FR clone 3: sir how long till they come

FR: *looks to the horizon* soon. Once they come we just have to hold them off

* * *

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

(author comment)

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

You all seem to think Neji is going to get destroyed. Sadly…..your just going to have to find out

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, it's owned by one wiser than me

* * *

Chapter 30: It's Fate

Naruto was making his way towards the stadium as he mentally prepared himself for his fight as well as complaining about his last shift. 'After this I'm taking a vacation. No missions. No training. Just me, my bed and ramen!'. Naruto's last shift was the first one since the removal of the seal and it hurt a lot more than last time. Naruto figured that it hurt more because his fox form is now bigger than it was before and he had to shrink a bit. Safe to say he hated it.

Naruto looked up to the sky to see that grey clouds covered the sky, he also took a whiff of the air and could smell the moisture in the air. "Looks like it might rain. Oh well it's always nice when it rains."

"It's one of those rare times anyway. You don't see rain that often in Konoha"

Naruto felt something land on the top of his head and looked up to see Gamakichi eating from a bag of candy "hey did you take that out of my pantry?"

Gamakichi shrugged his shoulders as he popped another in his mouth "maybe"

Naruto sighed and slumped a bit "you could have just asked me. I would have just given you the bag instead of you stealing it from me"

"Arguing with a frog over a bag of candy? And here I thought you couldn't get any odd gaki"

Naruto recognized that gruff voice. He remembers talking to the man that owned it back in Wave. Turning around he saw that he was right, standing behind him was Zabuza and next to the man was Haku who had a smile on his face "Zabuza! What are you doing here!"

Zabuza chuckled at Naruto's reaction "I'm here on security detail for my kage. She wanted to watch these chunin exam finals even if the teams she sent here didn't make it to the finals. Right now we are heading to the arena, but why are you heading there?"

Naruto straightened up "I'm in the finals"

Zabuza burst out laughing "you?! In the finals?! Yeah right. There is no way you could be in the chunin exams, your not ready for it"

Naruto grew a tick mark on his head "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?! I'm so ready to be a chunin!"

Zabuza caught his breath from the laughing "yeah right. Keep telling yourself that gaki"

Naruto began to throw a tantrum with Gamakichi hanging on to his hair "I'll show you that I can be a chunin! Just wait! I'll be the one to win the whole thing!"

Zabuza crossed his arms "you better. I'm betting a lot of money on your matches"

Naruto stopped as he processed this "...you made a bet that I would win?"

Zabuza couldn't help but smile, even though no one could see it under his bandages "you were able to give me a challenge when we met and Haku here has told me that you have gotten much stronger so yeah. Good way to get some extra spending money so you better not lose. I can only bet one match at a time so you better show me what you got in the first match"

Haku stepped forward "it's his way of saying good luck Naruto-san and we believe in you"

Naruto smiled "I plan on going all out on this one. It's a little personal for me"

Zabuza smirked "heh good. Than it means that I'll get my money's worth. Anyway, I gotta get to my post, later". He then started jumped away to make it to the stadium

Haku watched as Zabuza left before turning to Naruto "shall we go Naruto-san, since we are going the same direction."

Naruto nodded and both began to make their way to the arena along with the crowd of people heading the same way

Both of them gave some small talk but Haku had a question he had in his mind when he saw Naruto "Naruto-san why did you change your outfit?"

Naruto's outfit was mostly the same as his outfit from before but with some small changes. He still wore his mesh undershirt and black shirt over it. He kept his orange sash around his waist but his anbu style pants now had orange stripes going down the side of the legs. His anbu boots now had silver metal greaves strapped over them. He wore steel arm bracers the same color of the greaves. The last change was his jacket, he wore a jacket similar to his father's but instead of white, it was the same color orange as his sash. The edge of the collar was black and from the center of the back was a thick black line that went from the collar all the way to the bottom of the jacket until it splashed into 9 flames that spread out at the bottom. The inside of the jacket was a dark grey color

Naruto just shrugged his shoulders "I wanted to try something new for the finals. It's only for the finals, after it's done I'm going back to my old jacket. I like this but I don't think I'm ready for this look"

Haku was confused with that last statement but could tell that it was more of a personal matter so he let it go

* * *

~Konoha stadium, Kage booth~

Hiruzen was sitting in his seat waiting for the other kage to arrive as he was early to make sure all security details were set. He had to not only place Anbu guards in the normal posts but he also had placed some Anbu guards in disguise in the general audience. He was fortunate that he had an Anbu team trail Kabuto as the proctor Hayate had almost met his death when he was witness to a meeting between Kabuto and Baki, the sensei of the Suna team. The anbu team were able to place a powerful genjutsu on the two making it seem that Hayate was killed but he was taken away and hidden in Anbu headquarters until further notice. Unfortunately he should have had a team watching the Suna Jinchuuriki as he was discovered that Dosu was killed. Though no one witnessed it, the particles found on the mangled body point to him.

Hiruzen could see the villagers piling in the sitting area and took a deep breath as he kept his eyes open for any sign of Orochimaru

"**In your old age, being this stressed will kill you"**

Hiruzen felt his body freeze from the voice. Although he did not recognize it, his years of experience told him that whoever this voice belonged to was someone to be wary of. He felt something crawl up his robe until it curled around his shoulders. Turning his head he saw a fox looking at him. His heart stopped when he saw the eyes, the same eyes that he saw during that fateful day 12 years ago. His voice came out strained "K….Kyuubi?"

The fox smirked at this as he reveled in the fear he could feel off the man "**you fear me…..good"**

Hiruzen felt a bit of sweat at this as he was extremely close to a beast that is far more powerful than he is "b...but how are you ...?"

Kurama couldn't hold it anymore and gave a barking laugh. Thankfully no one was close by to hear their conversation "**hahaha I have done what you have always feared ningen. I have taken over"**

Hiruzen's eyes widened as anger began to replace the fear "you dare ...!"

Kurama laughed more "**hahaha calm yourself ningen. This is merely a temporary vessel for me to use. A ****Kage bunshin"**

The gears in Hiruzen's head were working over time until he came to the conclusion "you have taken control of a **bunshin **of Naruto-kun's. …..why?"

Kurama turned to the fighting grounds "**to better watch my kit fight. Watching through his eyes is not as entertaining as watching from the sidelines. I chose here as I assumed that you kage would have the best seats. Too bad there are no snacks here"**

Hiruzen sweatdropped at this. The Kyuubi, the strongest of the nine Bijuu…..was sitting on his shoulder acting like a simple audience member " *ahem* well, the fights won't be starting yet as the delegates are not in the stadium yet and some of the contestants are on their way."

Kurama lifted his head, tilting the hokage hat on Hiruzen's head "**mmm my kit is almost here. He was eager to get to his fight so it's no surprise that he is early."**

Hiruzen remembered what Naruto declared at the prelims. He was left in the dark when it came to his training and could only hope that he wouldn't do anything drastic "I just pray that he holds in his anger"

Kurama gave a dark chuckle to this "**you ask for too much. That hyuga boy had attempted to kill one of the few that he cares about. He will make it hurt" **

After waiting for twenty minutes, the Mizukage arrived and took her seat to Hiruzen's left "I am pleased that you were able to join me in watching these potential chunin, Terumi-san"

Mei terumi smiled to the hokage as her guard Ao took his position behind her seat "It was difficult to get some of the elders from my village to allow me to come here. They continued to berate me as I left to come here"

Ao gave a small scowl on his face as he also didn't agree with coming to konoha. He felt that Konoha would stab them in the back when they get the chance but he chose to keep this to himself as the hokage was there with them

Hiruzen gave a dry chuckle at the Mizukage's comment "well the elders seem to always have their own agenda"

Mei gave an understanding nod as she learned that the elders were a pain to deal with. Looking towards the hokage, she then noticed the fox on his shoulder "May I ask Hokage, is that fox on your shoulders yours?"

Hiruzen looked to the kyuubi and shook his head "no. this is a pet ack owned by one of the contestants" he winced when he said the word pet as he felt the kyuubi dig his claws into his shoulder and strained himself to say the rest

Kurama got some satisfaction in causing the old man pain for calling him a pet '**I am no one's pet!'**

Mei smiled at what she saw 'must not like being called a pet'. "Well who does he belong to?" she noticed the hokage wince again "he must trust you a lot if he allows you to watch over his pet" the hokage winced once more. She couldn't help herself in this little bit of messing with the hokage

Hiruzen was glaring at the kyuubi, even though he knew that he was no match in facing the bijuu but right now it was merely a **kage bunshin **that if he was lucky enough, he could dispel it. He looked over the the Mizukage and smiled the best he can "I would like to think so, as I see him as a surrogate grandson. He felt the claws that were digging into his flesh stop and gave a mental sigh of relief 'he must really care for the boy. I must speak with the kyuubi with Naruto-kun to learn more about the bijuu'

Kurama's head shot up and turned to his left, past Hiruzen's head and beyond Mei '**that snake is here!'**

A few minutes later the Kazekage walked up to the two other kage.

Hiruzen looked over with a critical eye. After Hayate informed him that Baki was having a secret meeting with Kabuto, he figured that Suna was working with Orochimaru. He didn't know what his plan was but if Orochimaru is getting help from Suna, than it could mean trouble on a massive scale. He had noticed that the Kazekage was limping heavily 'interesting'. Hiruzen put on a smile as he greeted the Kazekage "Welcome Rasa. it is a pleasure to see you again"

Rasa gave a nod as his face was covered up "the pleasure is mine Hiruzen". He then sat down to Hiruzen's right

Nothing more was said as they waited for the contestants to arrive

* * *

~with the non-participating genin~

Choji, Kiba, Sakura, Tenten, Karin, Ino and Hinata were sitting (in that order, facing them, from left to right) in the front row of the seating area waiting for the whole thing to begin.

Hinata would have sat with her family and the hyuga clan but her mother had allowed her to sit with her friends. She kept fidgeting as she was nervous about Naruto facing her cousin. She knew that Naruto was strong but Neji was the one that the entire hyuga clan praised for being a prodigy and they all believed that he would win the fight between the two

Kiba had pulled out a bag of popcorn as he tossed one in the air for Akamaru to catch "man I wish I was down there, kicking ass"

Sakura turned to Kiba "you came close to winning your fight but that Suna girl Temari, pulled out the win"

Kiba slumped a bit as Akamaru jumped into his lap "yeah. I was soooo close too. Naruto told me to go all out and I still lost"

Hinata spoke up next "you did your best Kiba. you should be proud of that"

Kiba gave a thankful nod

Choji took a bite out of one of his hotdogs as the seat to his right was filled with different kinds of snacks "mmf yoof shtill gaw closhh"

Ino looked a bit disgusted at this "you shouldn't talk with your mouth full Choji". She then looked towards Tenten "your Neji's teammate right? Who do you think will win?"

Tenten crossed her arms as she thought about it "I think that Neji will win this one" she said sourly

Karin looked towards Tenten with a tilt of her head "you seem to not want him to win. Isn't he your teammate? Shouldn't you be excited by that?"

Tenten had a sour look on her face, "If I had to choose who to cheer for, I would have to cheer for Naruto. Neji may be my teammate but he has this pessimistic view on things that it's hard to be friends with him. Naruto is more likable and I kinda want him to beat some sense into Neji but I also know Neji's skills and I can only say that Neji will most likely win, hands down"

"We should not doubt Naruto's flames of youth. I am sure he will give us a most youthful battle"

They all turned to their left to see Lee making his way down the stairs slowly, as he was using crutches

Tenten stood up and glared at Lee "Lee! Shouldn't you be in bed resting?!"

Lee gave a nervous chuckle at his teammates fury "it would be unyouthful of me if I was not here to witness my friends battle each other"

Tenten slumped and groaned as she knew that Lee would not budge on this. She only hoped that his actions don't cause him any more problems

Karin glared at Lee "you should be resting and staying off your feet. You were injured badly from that fight and you still haven't recovered"

Lee bowed his head slightly "thank you for your concern Karin-san but I must bear witness to this"

Tenten sat down and placed a hand on Karin's shoulder "trust me, you won't be able to convince him to leave"

Karin huffed and faced forward before she turned to Choji "hey where's my soda?"

Choji stopped munching for a second before he said "oops". He had forgotten to pass out the snacks to the others.

Kiba had a couple shishkabobs so he could share with Akamaru

Ino had a bag of chocolates

Hinata had some cinnamon buns

Karin had some Nachos with her drink

Sakura had a few sandwiches with some canned tea

Choji had all that and a few more

Lee who took a seat next to Hinata graciously accepted a bottle of water that Choji had

* * *

~with the Jonin Senseis~

The jonin were all seated and awaiting for the matches to begin

Asuma took a drag of his cigarette "wonder how the first match will go?"

Guy spoke out in his usual bravado "oh yes! I cannot wait to see Kakashi's student face my own. It will be a most youthful battle!"

Kurenai heard this and looked around "speaking of which, where is Kakashi?"

Asuma shrugged his shoulders "knowing him he will most likely be late. The only time we've seen him on time is when dad tricked him"

Guy was brought to anime tears "oh my eternal rival. It is most unyouthful of you to be late to such a most youthful event"

The jonin around him as well as the other senseis, sweatdropped at the man

"You guys should be used to his stupid antics already. Although the gaki had succeeded in making the scarecrow punctual a few times"

The Jonin looked back to see Anko sitting down with two plates of Dango in her hands

Kurenai smiled as she saw her friend "I thought you wouldn't make it. You once told me that watching snot nosed kids slap each other around was boring"

Anko took a bite out of her dango stick as she spoke "there was no way I would miss the gaki kicking ass and taking names. Even placed a major bet on him winning"

Kurenai scowled as she didn't like the idea of gambling on this test of worthiness.

Asuma smiled as he thought to himself 'maybe I should've put a bet on my genin.' He looked up to see his father stand from his seat "looks like they are about to begin

* * *

~with Hiruzen~

Hiruzen stood up from his seat to address everyone.

Kurama leapt off his shoulders and sat down in his chair

(they are using chakra to make their voices loud enough for everyone. So he is not yelling)

"AS LEADER OF KONOHA, I WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU ALL FOR ATTENDING THIS YEARS CHUNIN EXAMS" a loud applause was heard from everyone. "I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO THANK THE MIZUKAGE AND KAZEKAGE FOR ATTENDING AS WELL" both the Mizukage and Kazekage stood up and stood next to the Hokage

Mei began to speak next "THANK YOU KONOHA FOR ALLOWING ME TO ATTEND AND I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO SEE WHAT NEW POTENTIAL THESE GENIN WILL BRING. I HOPE TO SEE SOME OF THEM SHOW US, THAT THEY ARE WORTHY OF BECOMING CHUNIN FOR THEIR RESPECTIVE VILLAGE"

After another round of applause Rasa spoke "WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING THEM WHAT THEY ARE CAPABLE OF"

Hiruzen chose to end it here "IT IS WITH GREAT PLEASURE THAT I ANNOUNCE THAT THE FINALS OF THE CHUNIN EXAMS WILL NOW BEGIN!

A louder set of applause was heard from everyone in the audience

Mei and Rasa took their seats again as Hiruzen waited for the applause to stop. Once it did he spoke one last time "NOW PLEASE WELCOME THE FINALISTS"

With that Temari, Kankuro, Gaara, Neji, Shikamaru, Shino and Naruto made their way to the center of the arena. Already standing there was Genma Shiranui

* * *

~non-participating genin~

The genin had noticed Naruto's new look and were impressed that a change in jacket could make such a difference

Kiba gave a low whistle "damn. I think I should get a new look. Naruto's gone from that orange jumpsuit, to that short orange jacket, to this"

Both Hinata and Ino liked the new look. They thought that he looked much more mature now

Sakura gave a tilt of her head "why does he look familiar"

Kiba laughed at this "come one Sakura! It's Naruto! Don't tell me you forgot your own teammate?" he asked in a teasing manner

Sakura glared at Kiba "that's not it! He looks like someone else, I just can't remember who"

Ino nodded as she also had the feeling that Naruto looked like someone "she is right but either way he looks good"

"Heheh don't tell Naruto-nii that. He already has a fat head"

The genin jumped at the voice and turned around to see Haku sitting behind Sakura holding a toad in his lap. The toad lifted his hand and waved "how's it going?"

They all jumped at seeing the toad talking

Gamakichi crossed his arms "hey don't act like I'm the weirdest thing you've seen"

Sakura looked up to Haku and gave him a quizzical look

Haku smiled "this is Gamakichi. One of Naruto-kuns summons"

Tenten's eyes grew wide "Naruto has a summons?!"

Gamakichi gave a smug look as he reached behind him "yep, he sure does" he pulled out a bag of candy and took one out to eat

Sakura looked back to the arena and noticed "hey Sasuke-san and that Dosu guy is missing"

They all noticed now that it had been said and Hinata asked the question they all had "I wonder where they are?"

* * *

~arena floor~

Genma looked over the finalists in front of them and made the announcement "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN DUE TO AN UNFORESEEN ACCIDENT. DOSU WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE FINALS. THEREFORE, THE WINNER OF THE FIRST MATCH WILL FACE THE WINNER OF THE SECOND MATCH"

The finalist all looked confused but they just accepted this

Genma looked to the group of genin in front of them "now will everyone but the fighters of the first match please head to the contestants box"

Everyone but Naruto and Neji began to make their way to the stairs to walk up to the contestants box. Shikamaru gave Naruto a nod before leaving

Once it was just the three, Naruto could feel the anger and hatred coming from all around, aimed at him but his focus was on the other genin on the field 'let's see how the prodigy of the hyuga clan handles me' he thought as he glared at Neji

Both genin took their positions and were both glaring. One with anger and another with a bit of a smug glint in his eye

* * *

~Kage box~

Zabuza made his way to the Mizukage and stood next to Ao behind Mei "looks like I made it just in time"

Ao looked at Zabuza "and where were you Zabuza-san?"

"Changing my bet"

Mei looked behind her to her left at Zabuza "oh? I thought that you would stick with betting on the blonde boy there. What changed your mind to bet on the Hyuga?"

Zabuza chuckled "I didn't switch from who I bet on. I changed the amount I placed on the gaki. I doubled it"

Kurama smiled internally at this as he would have placed a bet too. If he had any need for money but it's more for the amount of faith he has in his kit

Mei looked a bit taken aback from this "you seem to think that it is a guarantee that he will win. Hope you don't regret it if he loses"

Zabuza laughed "from what Haku has told me, he has a grudge against the Hyuga so there is no way he will lose"

Hiruzen grimaced at this 'I hope you don't go overboard Naruto-kun'. He looked up as he heard a small bit of thunder. Now he had a bad feeling at what might happen

* * *

~seating area for the Hyugas~

Hiashi, Hanabi and Hitomi sat in front of a group of Hyuga as they all kept their gaze on Neji. Hiashi spoke without taking his eyes off the boy "observe this well Hanabi. Neji is considered one of the most talented Hyuga when it comes to the gentle fist and his eyes have could be better than even your sisters"

Hanabi heard what her father said but her mind was thinking other things 'be careful Naruto-nii". Hanabi and Naruto had met several times before and Hanabi began to let the inner child she buried away to come back out out thanks to him. Now she sees him as an older brother figure

Hitomi knew how talented Neji was and she wanted Naruto to get out of this fight without being hurt so much. 'Good luck Naruto-kun'

The Hyuga elders behind the three vocalized their thoughts

"Neji will make quick work of that uncouth brat" spoke one of the make elders

"Indeed. There is no possible way for that …._child_ to win this battle" responded a female Hyuga elder

"They should have disqualified _it_ immediately. It has no place among our shinobi" said another male elder

Hitomi did her best to hold in her displeasure as she heard the elders continue to speak ill of a boy that never asked for his burden

* * *

~Arena floor~

Genma looked at the two as he chewed on the senbon in his mouth "are both contestants ready?"

Neji nodded as Naruto just glared

Genma nodded and brought his hand up "then the first match: Naruto Uzumaki vs Neji Hyuga" before bringing it down "Hajime!" and he jumped away to let them begin

* * *

~Naruto vs Neji~ (choose your battle music :P )

Neji got into his gentle fist stance eyeing the blonde in front of him

Naruto didn't even get into a stance. He just stood there glaring at Neji

Neji felt insulted at the lack of movement from the blonde "have you accepted your fight and chosen not to fight?"

Naruto's scowl grew but he said nothing

"Understandable. It is your fate to lose to me, much like Hinata-_Sama_"

Naruto felt his anger increase at how this fate loving fool could act like Hinata was a plague that no one should be around. "What the hell is your problem with Hinata-chan anyway?"

Neji gained a cocky smirk "hmph she is part of the main house" he said as if that explained everything

Naruto lowered himself a bit as he reached for his kunai pouch on his leg "if that's all you have to say than your an idiot!" in an upward motion he tossed three kunai towards Neji

Neji smirked as the throw was nothing major. He leaned to his right, reached out to grab the handle of the first kunai and used it to deflect the other two, one flying in the air and the other sticking into the ground. He looked back to see Naruto smile before he disappeared and in his place was a kunai. His eyes widened as he quickly realized what had happened '**Kawarimi**?!'. Looking up he saw Naruto was in the air swinging a kick at his head. He lifted his arms to block the kick but once the foot hit his arms he felt immense force push him off his feet and flying away

Once Naruto's feet hit the ground he quickly picked up the kunai stuck in the ground and launched himself towards Neji

Neji flipped while in the air and skidded his feet in the ground. Once he stopped he also launched towards Naruto

Once they reached each other, they slammed their kunai into the other. They stared into each others eyes, Neji looking like he was struggling a bit as the kunai shook in his hand as he pushed against Naruto's kunai. Naruto just had a glare in his eyes and his kunai was still and steady.

After a minute Naruto shifted his kunai to push Neji's hand back but Neji brought it back to parry Naruto's next strike. They continued parrying each others strikes for another minute before they jumped back to get some distance from each other

Neji glared at Naruto as he thought that it would be an easy fight, as he heard that the blonde was the dobe of his class. Someone who wouldn't be able to measure up to him. That was why he hasn't activated his Byakugan yet. But now he knew he couldn't hold back now as he brought up his hand into a hand sign

Naruto stood up straight as he had an angry look on his face "finally bringing that out huh. Too bad it won't do you any good"

Neji scowled "and what makes you think that you will be able to beat a user of the Byakugan?"

Naruto smiled a bit but kept his eyebrows furrowed "because I trained with Hinata-chan and we found out that it doesn't work on me much"

"hmph , just shows that she is unworthy of being a Hyuga ...BYAKUGAN!"

Naruto smirked as he stood still

Neji mentally prepared himself to target Naruto's tenketsu points but when he looked to the blond his eyes opened in shock. 'He has no tenketsu points! How is that possible?!' it was also noticed that instead of a network of chakra veins running through Naruto's body it was more like his entire body was just filled with chakra

Naruto saw the look of shock on Neji's face "what's wrong Neji-san. Can't find what you're looking for?"

Neji scowled at Naruto and ignored the glaring problem that he has. He just chose to use his memory on where the tenketsu points should be on the body to strike him down. He charged at Naruto and began his assault

Naruto didn't move at Neji's charge but once Neji began to strike at him, he began to dodge the strikes. He made sure to keep his focus on dodging as Neji was moving fast enough that Naruto was beginning to worry that he would be struck by one of the finger strikes

Neji was getting frustrated. Naruto kept dodging Neji's strikes and it wasn't due to speed. It was due to flexibility.

Naruto gained a bit more free room between the strikes and saw an opening. Ducking under a strike aimed for his shoulder, Naruto channeled a bit of chakra into his hand and thrusted forward at Neji's chest. The impact was not as strong as it could be but it was enough as after he hit Neji, a small burst of wind blew out of his hand and pushed Neji back. Naruto leapt back to gain some more room. Once he was a distance away he began to channel wind chakra into his nails, which he left as claws. After gaining the amount he needed he smiled darkly at Neji

Neji flipped in the air and landed on his and prepared to launch again at Naruto but his Byakugan picked up an increase of chakra in his left hand. Lifting his head he saw Naruto pull back his hand

Naruto aimed at his target and swiped his hand in a horizontal attack which sent four blades of wind towards Neji

Neji could see the blades of wind heading his way and was shocked to see such an attack come from the dobe. The blades were coming close fast and in a quick decision he jumped into the air, positioning his body to be horizontal and was able to slip in between the two top blades. The blade below Neji was able to cut on of the straps that fell from his headband. After slipping through the blades, he landed on his feet and his eyes were wide at such a move. From what he could tell, there were no hand signs or call for the jutsu name "what jutsu was that?!"

Naruto dropped his hand to his side "that wasn't a jutsu. It was pure chakra manipulation. But if I could give it a name maybe **Kaze no ha**"

Neji took a sudden step back "what?" 'how is he able to do that? That takes massive amounts of control'

Naruto could tell what Neji was thinking "it isn't fine chakra control. It is merely channeling enough chakra into points. In fact it takes a lot of chakra to do what I just did"

Neji look behind him to see that the blades had left big gashes in the wall, not too deep but he knew that if he was hit with that, it would hurt a lot 'I can't let him have a chance at long distance'. Turning back to Naruto, he charged again for a taijutsu fight as it was his advantage

Naruto met Neji halfway and when Neji was a few feet away, Naruto leapt up and flipped over Neji

Neji moved his head to follow Naruto and was about to strike him but instead he ducked down to avoid a punch aimed at the back of his head. Putting his hands on the ground Neji launched his two feet to the clone behind him. He then spun on his hands to spin kick two clones that jumped him. Once those clones were dispelled, he pushed off the ground to land on his feet in a crouched position and jumped to the side to dodge the Naruto above him that kicked the ground where Neji was. The kick shook the ground and brought up a cloud of dust which blocked everyone's view of the fighters

* * *

~non participating genin~

They all were watching wide eyed at the level that the two fighters were going at

Lee wanted to jump up in the air and cheer

Karin was the same as Tenten

Choji stopped eating for a second before munching again

Sakura was in aw at the skill shown

Kiba was the most excited "YEAH! Kick his ass Naruto!"

Tenten still had a worried look on her face 'your doing great Naruto but Neji hasn't used his ultimate move yet.' she heard some thunder and looked up to see that the clouds looked bad as if something was about to happen

Haku just smiled at how Naruto was showing of

Gamakichi just tossed another candy in his mouth

Hinata and Ino looked up as well as pain in their heart told them that something was about to happen and they both had the same thought

'Please be safe Naruto/Naruto-kun'

* * *

~Kage booth~

Hiruzen was impressed at the skill his surrogate grandson was showing 'you've come far my boy'

Kurama smiled at the fight as he was enjoying it. He also kept his eye on the Kazekage as he could feel hatred aimed at his kit '**try something you snake! You do anything to my kit, then there will be no place you can hide from me'**

Mei was impressed 'these kids have some good skills. Could give some of my genin a run for their money'

The Kazekage glared from under his had as he had dark thoughts 'keep tiring yourself out. You will die soon enough'

* * *

~with the Jonin~

Anko's eyes were now coins as she could feel her wallet become fat from the major bet she made on Naruto 'oooh Gaki! I am so treating you to Ramen after this. After the amount I win, I might just buy the stand and give it to you'

Guy was shouting his lungs out at how "YOUTHFUL" the fight was

Asuma was impressed 'glad I'm recording this at home' (I'm just assuming the level of tech they reached as it's hard to tell)

Kurenai was speechless as she also doubted that Naruto would be able to show this level of skill

* * *

~participants box~

Most of the other participants were just staring in awe.

Gaara was the only one that was smiling but his smile was sadistic 'he will prove my existence and his blood will satisfy mother'

* * *

~at the Academy~

Iruka was smiling at how Naruto was handling the fight as his class was cheering but no one was louder than Konohamaru

"YEAH! Way to go Naruto-nii!"

"Keep it up" muttered Udon

"He's got this!" Squealed Moegi

The rest of the class were all cheering for the blond which made Iruka smile wider

* * *

~back in the arena, with the Hyugas~

They were all surprised that Naruto was pushing Neji back. They all expected Neji to wipe the floor with the blond but it was the complete opposite.

The elders were all giving out ridiculous excuses

"He must be cheating!"

"There is no way that thing could be winning against the pride of the Hyuga clan"

"Neji-kun must be holding back. Toying with the brat"

Hiashi had similar thoughts as he was finding it hard to believe that Neji would be losing. As he looked on he activated his Byakugan to see what was happening in the cloud and his eyes widened as he saw what happened next.

* * *

~back in the fight~

While the dust cloud was still up Naruto launched himself at Neji as he sensed where the anger was coming from. Jumping in the air, he pulled back his fist and aimed for his head but when he got closer Neji began to spin and a dome of chakra spun around Neji

"**ROTATION!**"

Naruto was launched out of the dust cloud and landed hard enough into the ground that cracks appeared "ow. What the hell was that?"

The move had blasted to cloud away and everyone could see Neji standing strong "that…..was the ultimate defense of the Hyuga clan. A move that takes a very long time to master and only a few in the main house know how to use it"

Naruto notice how there was a spike of hatred when he said "Main house" and he felt the need to know what the story was "What's your problem with the Main house anyway. From what Hinata-chan told me, the branch family is meant to protect the main house". What Naruto didn't say was that Hinata had told him about the restraining seal placed on all the branch members. Hinata hated it as it was basicly slavery to family members and Naruto agreed with with Hinata. It needed to go. But the way Neji seemed to hate the main house, it seemed more personal

Neji sneered at Naruto "we are slaves to the main house. We're forced to obey them as fate had deemed it that way"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow "How does fate decide that"

"Fate chooses the way people's lives are. There is no way to fight it. Everyone's path is decided long before we are even born:"

Naruto scowled at this as he felt offended at that "no it doesn't. I don't believe in stuff like that"

Neji felt his anger rise but he decided that the blonde should know how fate has decided the lives of others. Neji untied his hitai-ate as he began to tell his story

* * *

~in the audience~

Hiashi felt regret as he heard the tale Neji was giving. He hated the fact that his brother took his place when it was supposed to be him to die.

The elders held no remorse on the event as they all thought it was the branch family's duty to die for the main house

Hanabi looked up at her father with a look of shock, as she had never heard this story before

Hitomi felt sadness at the story of her brother

Hinata felt sad at how her cousin felt about her and the main house

* * *

~back in the arena~

Neji finished his story and re-tied his hitai-ate to his head "now you understand. Fate decides everyone's path, much like yours. I had heard that you dreamed of being Hokage but you should know that it is impossible for you to become hokage. The previous four were destined to be hokage. You shouldn't strive for something fate says you are unworthy of the title"

Naruto held his head down as his hair shadowed his eyes

Neji smiled as he believed that he made his point but it was short lived

"Your an idiot" Naruto muttered as a bit of thunder was heard overhead. Naruto lifted his head to show that Naruto was furious "you say that it is the fate of the branch family to protect the main house. Yet you attempt to kill one of its members because you don't like the way your life is." Naruto's tried his hardest to reign in his anger "you are considered the prodigy and hope of your clan yet you act as if you are a pariah. You act like you suffer but you don't know a damn thing about it" Naruto turned around to face the main audience. He turned his head to look back on Neji "you have no clue on what you have". He then looked up at the audience and lifted his arms up as he yelled out

"WHO WANTS THE HYUGA WIN?! WHO WANTS TO SEE HIM BEAT ME MERCILESSLY?! WHAT DO YOU WANT HIM TO DO?!"

Neji was confused on what the boy was doing and would have struck while the blondes back was turned but he was stopped by what happened next

* * *

~with the non participating genin~

They were all confused on what Naruto was doing. Why would he just start asking the audience what they wanted from the fight

Hinata and Ino were the most confused but before they could think anything more of this they heard someone talk a few seats away

"Beat the brat" muttered someone

They turned to their right to see some civilian man stand from his seat and start yelling

"Beat the brat into the ground!" he yelled as he lifted his hand in the air

Haku could see more and more people joining and understood now why Naruto had a solemn look on his face when they talked about his village back when they met in Wave

Gamakichi stopped his eating and slumped on Haku's lap

* * *

~Kage booth~

Hiruzen felt dread at what he could see was about to start. He would have gotten up but feeling the kyuubi's claws dig into his shoulder, he turned to see the kyuubi giving him a sad look and shook his head. He wanted to ask why but the kyuubi turned his gaze back to Naruto

'**Why do you have to do this kit? This hurts more than just you, you know'**

* * *

~Back in the arena~

Naruto stood there and waited for what he did to start to snowball and he wasn't disappointed as more and more people joined in

"Beat the brat"

"Beat the evil monster"

"Kill him!"

"Kill the demon!"

"KILL THE DEMON!"

"KILL THE MONSTER!"

"KILL THE DEMON!"

"KILL THE MONSTER!"

What started as only a few people soon became groups and then it was the majority of the konoha civilian audience

Neji didn't know what to make of this. So many people were all chanting that he kill Naruto. He looked back at Naruto who was now facing him. He saw a drop of water fall on the side of his face, then another drop landed on the other side. For a split second the drops looked like tears coming from the boy but more drops began to all and soon it began to rain "what did you do to cause so much hatred towards you?"

For a few seconds Naruto said nothing as the rain began to fall and the chants continued. After that he lifted both his hands and started to undo the buckles of his bracers "that's the thing Neji." he removed his right bracer "I didn't do anything to them. They hate me because I was born." he removed his let bracer and bent down to undo his greaves while still looking at Neji "if what you said is true than fate made it so they all hated me." right leg greave removed "fate made it so everyone was against me." left leg greave removed. He now held his bracers in his right hand and his leg greaves in his left "you had heard that I dreamed of being hokage…...and that was true, but it is no longer my dream. I still want to be hokage and if I do become hokage I will protect the village with everything I have"

Neji was stunned "why? Why fight to protect the people that hate you?"

Naruto smiled darkly at Neji "I'm not fighting for them." he tossed the bracers and greaves behind him, causing them to separate and once they landed on the ground, four ;arge plumes of dust was picked up and a loud *boom* was heard by everyone, which silenced everyone in the audience.

Genma who was attached to the wall in a crouched position, started to chew his needle a bit harder "kid is about to go all out. I almost feel sorry for the Hyuga"

Naruto moved his arms around to get the feeling back in them. Before he crouched a bit ready to move

Neji got into his fighting stance as he knew from experience that removing weights increases the speed of the wearing. What he didn't expect was once he got into his position he felt a hand on his face and everything went into slow motion. Naruto was no longer standing where he was, he was at Neji's right, facing the opposite direction. Naruto's hand was pulled back as it was on Neji's face and Neji barely saw the blonde move

Naruto knew he shouldn't put all his strength in what he was about to do but he also wanted to hurt Neji for what he said. He thrusted his hand forward launching Neji away.

Neji skipped on the ground four times before correcting himself as he dug his feet into the ground to stop. Thanks to his instincts, he shifted to his right to avoid a claw strike from Naruto but he winced when he was still cut on his arm. He then noticed that he was surrounded by clones and each clone's hands had wind chakra in the nails 'oh no'. Neji began to dodge as best he could as clone after clone charged at him, attempting to strike. He was able to dodge them at the start but the wind chakra added to the clones' nails were starting to cut him up. He was pushed into a corner and he had no way out as they were too fast for him to throw a solid hit without being struck himself. He made a quick decision, it would cost him a few hits but it would allow him to take out the clones. He stopped dodging for a second which gained him cuts all over his body. Getting his footing he began to spin in a counterclockwise motion "**ROTATION!**" the dome of chakra wiped out most of the clones that were close by and pushed Naruto back.

Naruto felt a bit of his arms burn from the move Neji used but it was already healing. Naruto stood a distance away from Neji and could tell that Neji was on his last leg, not only from all the wounds he has but the dome of chakra must use a lot of chakra in order to create a protective barrier. He sent his remaining clones at Neji but Neji got into a stance as he quickly executed his move

"**Eight Trigrams 64 Palms**" Neji launched a flurry of strikes aimed at the charging clones and he was able to dispel them all but the move left neji breathing hard as he barely finished them all

Naruto could tell that Neji was on his last leg and Naruto wanted to finish this "you said it was my fate to lose against you but I still don't believe that. Let's end this!" Naruto said as he got onto all fours and channeled wind chakra into his claws

Neji prepared to use **Rotation **once more to deflect whatever Naruto was going to use. He remained focused on the boy as he now knew not to underestimate him. 'I don't have much left in me. I need him to charge me in order to hit him with the **Rotation.**' he could feel the blood coming out of all the cuts he received from the last assault and the rain wiping it away

Naruto took a step forward, then another, and another and then he began to charge at Neji, running low for some speed and pulled his hand back. He glared into the eyes of the Hyuga and both knew that this was it. Once Naruto was close enough he stomped his feet into the ground and brought his two hands up to do a double claw strike in a left horizontal strike

Neji immediately spun in his counterclockwise motion "**ROTATION!"** the dome of chakra appeared around him just in time to block the strike

Both attacks clashed against each other and neither were going to stop until they win this

Naruto's claws hit the dome but Naruto kept pushing his claws to go against the dome's rotation. The clash was burning his arms the longer it was going but right now he didn't care, he wanted to win against the one who nearly killed someone he cared about

Neji kept spinning, keeping the **Rotation** going. He felt his chakra levels dropping rapidly just keeping it going but he also saw that Naruto was taking the backlash from clashing against it. He felt the need to finish this so he charged the dome with a burst of his chakra

Naruto saw the burst coming and he pushed even more "AAARRRGGGHHH**HHHHH**"

The push from both caused an explosion that brought up another dust cloud

The audience was silent and starred in anticipation to see who won the clash. A figure was launched out of the cloud and crashed into the ground bringing another smaller dust cloud to block out who it was. They all looked to the bigger cloud and saw a silhouette walking in the direction of the one that flew away

The silhouette walked out of the could and everyone could see it was Naruto. He had burns all over his forearms, there were rips in his shirt and the sleeves of his jacket but Naruto's look of determination showed that he didn't care. He didn't even seem to care about the wounds as he walked to where Neji crashed as the rain cleared the dust away

Neji was laying on his back, coughing up blood and unable to move "*cough* damn…..it. I can't…..move"

Naruto stood above Neji as he scowled at Neji "so….do you still believe fate determined you would be the winner?"

Neji tried to respond but all he could do was grit his teeth

"You hate Hinata-chan because she is in the main branch. She didn't ask for it, she didn't like it, and she hates the 'Caged bird seal'. She told me that since she is the next head to the clan, she would abolish the seal. Permanently and you are just making it harder for her to do that. You hate that seal yet you go against the ONE person who can get rid of it for you. Stop whining about fate being unfair and do something about it. I've been doing it and I'm the dobe of my class but your the prodigy of your class and your clan so do something!." he turned around and began to walk away but when he was a few feet away, he turned his head to look over his shoulder "you asked me why I'm fighting for the people who hate me but to tell you the truth ...I'm not fighting for them, I'm fighting for the few people I care about that live in this village. I fight for their dreams and their home but I will also protect the people because if I just leave them be, than I am no better than the ones that want me dead".

Genma landed in between the two as he looked at the back of the retreating Uzumaki 'kid has the strongest will I've ever seen'. "WINNER OF THE FIRST MATCH: NARUTO UZUMAKI"

The crowd began to cheer out as Naruto made his way to his greaves and bracers.

Naruto picked up his equipment, ignoring the cheers. He did feel a bit happy at hearing it. He knew that a lot of those people didn't hate him and some of the shinobi of his village didn't have anything against him but right now he was still mad. He turned his head to the left and up towards where the Hyuga were sitting. In a burst of speed he ran towards the wall, than up it until he reached the railing.

Sitting in a crouched position on the rail, he looked directly into the eyes of Hiashi Hyuga

Hiashi didn't react to the action but after a flash of lighting, his eyes widened ever so slightly as Hiashi could swear that Minato switched places with Naruto's for a second

Neither of them said anything for a second and the Hyuga guards were about to move in until Naruto spoke "it's because of your traditions, your rules, your stupid ideas that made Neji the way he is. It's because of you…." he pointed directly at Hiashi's face "keeping these strict rules that nearly cost you your own daughter! Live with the thought that you and your traditions were almost responsible in killing Hinata just because she isn't up to your damn standards." he then stood on the rails and looked down at Hiashi "and just to let you know, during the fight between Hinata and Neji….she held back" he than leapt up to flip over onto the roof before running over to the participants side and sit down on the roof

Hiashi sat there, not knowing what to think anymore. Everything the boy said was true and that hit him hard. He looked down as the medical team took Neji away. He felt that he needed to try and mend a misunderstanding Neji had before he did anything to try and mend the relations between himself and his first born. He got up and left towards the medical wing

Hitomi and Hanabi watched as Hiashi left but they chose to let him go do what he felt he needed to do. They looked back to the arena when an announcement was heard

"WE WILL HAVE A 20 MINUTE RECESS UNTIL THE NEXT MATCH. PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEATS BY THEN"

Naruto sat on the roof and placed his greaves on first while his arms heal and waited for the next match, not caring about the rain

* * *

~kage booth~

Hiruzen had his hat tilted to cover his eyes, not looking at the other two Kage

Mei leaned back in her seat as she took a deep breath "he's your jinchuuriki isn't he?"

Hiruzen just remained silent

"He has a strong will if he can take all that and not lash out"

Hiruzen gained a small sad smile "that he does"

Zabuza now had greater respect for the blonde for putting up with this

Kurama hated this village. He hated that his kit had to deal with this hatred directed at him. He knew that it was in both their natures to feel the negative emotions but Kurama had centuries in dealing with it but Naruto barely had over a decade of a constant flow. It was something that he would have to teach him after this whole event so it wouldn't consume him and take over.

* * *

End of chapter

And there is the fight

Neji got a beatdown and not a lot of Naruto's new skills were shown.

Kaze no ha: literally just means blades of wind

I wanted to show that Naruto, although still wants to be hokage, he is not so hooked on it. He will still aim for it but ….you get the idea

The rain thing I wanted to do more for atmosphere since no one has ever done a match in the rain before. At least not that I have found

As for the recording this. I don't know the level of tech the Narutoverse is at so I just assumed that they have VCRs. I know they have movie theaters and tvs and all that but yeah. I don't know if they use disks or not so tapes for now

Naruto is not as fast as Lee, not even close but he has speed enough to shock Neji and that's without using his demon chakra


	31. A Winds Shadow

FR: it's day ...I don't remember. I have been stuck in the fortress waiting for the coming army. I can feel them coming, I know it

Volleyball:...

FR: I know they are coming Steve! I feel it...don't you?

Steve the Volleyball:...

FR: oh what would you know. I must be ready….hear that? they are coming

* * *

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

(author comment)

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

It has been a little over 2 months and now we have a new chapter for this. Bout time in my opinion but college takes up my time. Anyway enjoy this chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I'm not smart enough to own it

* * *

Chapter 31: A Winds Shadow

The genin didn't know how to feel about what they have just seen. Their friend and classmate was the winner of the match yet none of them felt happy.

The females felt sad at all the hatred Naruto received. His classmates knew that Naruto pulled pranks against many of the villagers but no prank would bring out this kind of reaction.

The boys felt anger at how their friend was treated. Kiba and Akamaru were growling at no one in particular. The people were at one moment calling for Naruto's death and calling him a monster and then, when he wins, they cheer for him like they did nothing wrong.

Haku could feel sadness at how his friend was treated and he was reminded about his time during the bloodline purge

Gamakichi could only shake his head in a bit of disappointment but he knew that the people would be like this especially since Naruto was a Jinchuriki

Ino was looking up to the left, where the participating genin were and could see Naruto sitting on the roof. With tears in her eyes, she thought to herself '...Naruto-kun'

Hinata clutched her hand over her heart as she silently wept for the boy she cared for the most. She had no clue on why the people of the village hated Naruto and she knew that Naruto had done nothing to warrant such hatred. 'Why do they hate you …..Naruto-kun?'

Ino got up from her seat as she wanted to go see if Naruto was ok. She didn't care if he wouldn't talk to her, she needed to know but before she could take a step she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking to see who it was, she saw it was Karin who shook her head at Ino

Karin could tell that the Yamanaka girl was going to say something but Karin chose to beat her to it "I think it's best if you leave him alone for now." looking towards Naruto, she continued "I think that he doesn't want to see anyone, since he is sitting up there instead of going to the contestants box"

Ino still wanted to go to Naruto but she could see what Karin was saying and slowly sat back down in her seat but kept her gaze towards the blonde boy

Hinata was the same. Wanting to go see Naruto but she heard what Karin said and also kept her head down

Both girls had the same thoughts in their head

'please be ok Naruto-kun'

* * *

~with the Jonins~

Asuma was slightly gritting his teeth at how the citizens treat a kid. He knew that the villagers didn't like the blonde but he didn't know it was this bad as he had never interacted with the boy before. His thoughts went to his student Ino. he knew that the girl had feelings for the jinchuriki, even if she was unaware of them herself. He knew that this would hurt her and that didn't sit well with him

Kurenai felt bad for Naruto but her thoughts also went to Hinata. She knew the Hinata had a major crush on the blonde and she could only imagine how she must feel right now. 'Be strong Hinata-chan'

Anko was looking around, glaring at the audience. She wanted to round them all up and go all out but she knew that she couldn't as this wasn't really against the law as they had said nothing about what it really meant but she was so tempted to say "to hell with it!". She chose to sit back down and just grit her teeth.

Guy could only shake his head at how unyouthful the village has become because of how blind the citizens were. He knew there was no real silver lining in this whole situation but he did hope that this would shake Neji's beliefs a bit as it was now clear that Naruto had a much harder life than his Hyuga student.

* * *

~in the general audience~

Ayame had angry teas going down her face as she tried to stay in her seat. 'How can they treat him like that?! He hasn't done anything to them and yet they call for his death and then act all innocent and cheer for him just because he showed them a good fight!'

Teuchi had his hand on his daughter's shoulder as they shook. He also felt anger at everyone around him but he looked towards the participating genin seating area and saw Naruto sitting on the roof. 'Stay strong kid'

* * *

~in the audience with the Inuzukas~

Hana was petting one of her ninken partners in a way not to let her instincts take over and lash out at some of the people in the general audience.

Tsume who was sitting to Hana's left placed a hand on her shoulder, "don't worry. That pup can handle this kind of thing

Hana took a deep breath to calm down "that's just it mom. He shouldn't have to"

* * *

~with the participating genin~

Shino and Shikamaru both felt anger, despite their usual demeanor.

Shino's bugs were restless and buzzing a bit as they felt their partner's anger

Shikamaru felt a bit of anger but he was also thinking of why Naruto was treated this way. 'There are very few reasons for why the people of the village would act that way…..but I feel like there is something I am missing.' he went through several scenarios in his head, narrowing it down to the most likely 'it's the closest to why it could be …..but it still seems too troublesome. He is still the same troublesome blonde…'

* * *

~With Naruto~

Naruto continued to sit on the roof just above the other participating genin and took deep breaths to calm his nerves. He threw his head back so his face was facing upwards and he let the rain fall on his face. 'I should feel better for teaching that stuck up Hyuga a lesson but I still feel like crap'

* * *

~20 minutes later~

The time limit was up and everyone were in their seats, getting ready for the next fight. The civilians were all excited to see their Uchiha fight against the Suna nin. The rain had started to let up a bit, but it was still drizzling slightly

Genma walked into the center of the arena and channeled chakra into his throat "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. WE WILL NOW BEGIN MATCH TWO. WILL SASUKE UCHIHA AND GAARA OF SUNA, PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE ARENA

Gaara appeared next to Genma in a sand **shunshin**, looking nonchalant despite his subtle distaste for the light drops of rain.

Genma stood there waiting for the other participant to appear but no one showed up. Looking towards the contestant's box, he didn't see the Uchiha anywhere.

* * *

~the Kage box~

An anbu appeared next to Hiruzen and paused for a second seeing a fox on his leader's shoulder but he shook off his surprise before he whispered in the Hokage's ear, opposite side than the fox "sir, Sasuke Uchiha is not present in the stadium. Should we send out a search party?"

Hiruzen shook his head "no. I can only assume that he is with Kakashi-san since he has also yet to arrive. I have full confidence that Kakashi-san would keep him safe from anyone after him. However, it falls to Sasuke to make sure that he is on time for his match. if he is not present for it, than he has lost the right to participate and will be disqualified"

Rasa heard this and gave his opinion on the action. "Sarutobi-san, maybe we should wait for him a little longer. After all, many of the visitors came here in order to see the last Uchiha participate."

Kurama moved his eyes to look at Rasa and could feel the anxiety and some desperation coming from him '**that desperate for the Uchiha huh? Too bad for you and too bad for that brat'** he thought with a mocking tone and some venom at saying "Uchiha"

Hiruzen shook his head "no. if this were a mission, his tardiness could cost many lives of his comrades. I cannot condone such behavior, regardless of his name."

Mei nodded as she looked at her fellow Kages "I have to agree with the Hokage on this. It was thanks to the well-timing of many of my shinobi during our civil war that allowed us to win the battle. Had any of their actions been delayed any, we would have lost many good men and women. I also vote for the Uchiha's disqualification"

Rasa was fuming on the inside 'NO! He must be here in order for my plans to work. He needs to face the Sand Jinchuriki and use the Curse mark more.' "how about we allow him to fight, later in the matches but lose the right to become a Chunin?" 'this will bring him to me just as well'

Hiruzen shook his head once more "no. I will not show favoritism for one of my shinobi. I must treat them all equally.'' Even though he said this, in his head he was having another thought 'although I said that, if it were Naruto, I would have at least held off his match until he arrived…...but he would never let me hear the end of it if I did that. He likes to earn what he received by his own hands and this kind of help would make him feel like he cheated'

Mei nodded her head again "very honorable Sarutobi-san"

Rasa turned away and glowered at nothing in particular 'Damn you Hiruzen!'

Hiruzen got up from his seat and began to address the audience "ATTENTION LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. DUE TO HIS ABSENCE, SASUKE UCHIHA WILL BE DISQUALIFIED FROM HIS MATCH"

This announcement caused a lot of the people from Konoha to "boo" at it

Hiruzen ignored the shouting at how unfair it was to not let the Uchiha participate but he wanted to move on with this

* * *

~back on the field~

Genma sighed as he lifted his arm to get the event going "WINNER BY DISQUALIFICATION, GAARA OF SUNA"

Gaara was extremely displeased at not having the chance to kill the Uchiha but a thought came to his mind 'if I cannot kill the Uchiha…' he turned his head upwards towards the roof of participating genin '...I will kill the Uzumaki'. After he finished this thought he **Shunshined** back to the rest of the genin.

Genma chose to call upon the next match since he could tell the audience was restless. "WILL KANKURO OF SUNA AND SHINO ABURAME PLEASE COME FORTH"

* * *

~with the genin~

Kankuro was nervous. He didn't want to show any of his skills and tire himself out before the plan was let loose. He looked around in order to find an excuse to use in order to get out of the fight. He looked up and saw that the rain had begun to stop and the clouds were very slowly drifting. He came up with an excuse but he knew that it was a very pathetic one but it was the only one he could come up with. He raised his hand and shouted out "Proctor! I forfeit!"

Everyone turned to him and gave a confused look as to why he would

Kankuro chose to swallow some of his dignity "the rain would cause too many problems with my fighting style and I won't be able to put up much of a fight. So I am choosing to pull out and not embarrass myself"

Genma looked up at the sky and shrugged his shoulders 'not a very solid excuse since the clouds look like they are parting but it's not up to me to fully question his poor excuse'. He channeled chakra back into his throat and addressed the audience again "WINNER BY FORFEIT: SHINO ABURAME"

The audience were once again "boo"ing at how they expected a fight and yet one of them was a no show and the other quit

Shino who was walking calming to the stairs stood at the top looking back at Kankuro. His glasses gleaned a bit as he turned back to stand with the rest of the genin. As he passed Kankuro he heard the Suna-nin

"Sorry for that but I can't fight well in the rain"

Shino looked back at Kankuro and gave a small nod before he went to stand next to Shikamaru

Genma than called out "WILL SHIKAMARU NARA AND TEMARI OF SUNA PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE ARENA"

Temari jumped down from the seating area and used her fan to float down to the arena floor and looked up at her opponent

Shikamaru looked down at the Suna girl and thought to himself 'man, I have to fight a girl. This is too troublesome. I should just forfeit'. As he was beginning to lift his hand, he stopped and looked up. His gaze was focused above him and after a few seconds he dropped his hand and put it in his pocket as he began to make his way to the stairs

* * *

~Arena floor~

Temari watched as the Nara made his way to the floor very slowly. She had noticed that he was lifting his hand as if he was about to forfeit but at the last second he stopped and began to move. 'What was that about?'

Shikamaru finally made it to stand opposite to Temari and stood there lazily looking at her

Genma looked between the two "are you two ready?" seeing the two nod he lifted his hand in the air "SHIKAMARU VS TEMARI ...BEGIN!" he brought his hand down and jumped back

* * *

~Shikamaru vs Temari~

Temari immediately pulled out her fan, unfolded one moon and swung it to launch a large gust of wind. 'Can't let him even have a chance of doing anything. That Inuzuka almost got me during the prelims and this guy could be just as good or better. Best not let him even try and use his shadow jutsu'

Shikamaru was able to jump to his left in order to avoid the wind jutsu "damn! Troublesome woman, not giving me a chance to do anything." he said as he landed and jumped away again to avoid another gust of wind. He tried to get himself closer so he could at least get into a taijutsu fight but she would not let him even get close. So he ended up dodging several more gusts of wind that kept pushing him back

Temari was enjoying the fact that she was the one dominating this fight but she wanted to finish the fight as fast as she could so unfolding her fan fully she launched her jutsu "**Wind Style: Great Sickle Weasel"**. A wall of wind was launched out from her with blades of wind within

Shikamaru's eyes widened when he saw this coming, he jumped back where the trees were, was lucky enough to make it and duck behind one of them. He stayed behind the tree as he heard the jutsu cut up the tree and saw that blades of wind move passed him and cut apart the bushes 'troublesome. I don't have anything to use against a long range fighter and she wont let me get closer in order to fight back.' he looked up to see the dark clouds through the leaves of the tree 'not only that but the overcast clouds don't give me much shadows to use for my jutsu.' Shikamaru tried to think of something but he knew his arsenal was very limited in these conditions. He sat down, crossed legged behind the tree, brought his fingers together and closed his eyes 'here's hoping she at least gives me the time to think of something'

Temari had her fan held back ready to launch another of her jutsu when she sees him come out from the tree. She would have continued but she didn't want to waste so much of her chakra in this fight, especially since she would need her energy for the coming invasion. Although she couldn't see him, she knew he was there and kept her focus on the spot he was.

* * *

~with Naruto~

Naruto could see Shikamaru from where he was sitting and leaned his elbows on his knees as he sat cross legged 'well, looks like he is getting serious. It's amazing how she can do that wind jutsu ...maybe I can come up with something like it'

After a little over a minute he saw that Shikamaru pulled his hands away and was slowly getting up "good luck Shikamaru"

* * *

~back in the arena~

Temari was growing impatient, waiting for him to make a move. She was about to just launch another jutsu to flush him out but she saw movement and acted on reflex. She sent another "**Wind style: Great Sickle Weasel" **at the moving object. She put in more chakra into the jutsu this time, more focused on finishing him off. What she saw was not the Nara…...it was his jacket that looked like it was bundled up and tied to a kunai. It fell onto the ground, shredded and it took her a second to realize it was a distraction. Her instincts told her to jump away and trusting them she did so just in time to avoid a kunai. Hearing a sizzling, Her eyes widened when she looked down and saw an explosive tag attached to the kunai. Without having time to mold wind chakra to propel her away, she quickly closed her fan and brought it forward. The tag exploded but she was far enough to avoid being singed by it and the metal of the fan blocked the shock-wave. She grit her teeth as the shock-wave pushed her further away from it. Once she could correct herself she landed on her feet but much to her shock there was another kunai with a tag already at her feet. Like before she jumped away but she was in a bad position and didn't bring her fan up fast enough so she couldn't block all of the explosion. She found herself flopping around in the air with several burns on her and heading towards the wall. Using the weight of her fan, she swung it, while still closed, in the opposite direction to her movement to get better control. Once she was close to the wall, she gained control of her momentum and landed on the wall with her feet. She looked up to see that Shikamaru was now standing where she used to be standing, facing her but her eyes also caught something when she was looking up. She saw another kunai pass her, landing just to her left. She didn't even think about what to do. She pushed her legs off the wall and jumped towards the Nara. this time she turned to face the kunai and tag. She was planning on using the explosion's shock-wave to push her faster to the Nara and once she was close enough she would launch her jutsu. At close range he would not be able to dodge it. She brought up her fan ready to enact her plan but to her shock there was no explosion. There was a massive flash coming from the kunai. She had to cover her eyes in order to block out the light. blinded, she brought her feet down in order to land but once she was on the ground she realized that she couldn't move. "What the hell?"

"Shadow Possession complete"

Temari used all her strength to try and turn her head to look behind her. Being unable to do so, she was shocked to see the arm that was holding the fan lift up and moved in a throwing position. She saw herself throw her own weapon away before she turned around against her will and face Shikamaru "H-how did you ...?"

Shikamaru began to walk forward, forcing Temari to do the same "I knew that you would automatically think I threw another explosive tag and push yourself off the wall to get away from it. I just put a flashbang instead of an explosive tag and used the shadow that was created to get you in my **Shadow Possession jutsu.**"

Temari was shocked "you knew how I would react to the kunai?! You planned that whole thing!"

Shikamaru and Temari were now standing in front of each other "yeah. It was one of the quickest ways to win this. Honestly I had four other plans to use and a hundred more steps planned out if this didn't work." he moved his hand in order for him to grab a kunai. Unfortunately for Temari she didn't have a kunai pouch or her to pull one out with him. Shikamaru brought the kunai to her neck and she brought her hand in the same way "give up."

Temari hesitated for a minute. She tried to think of a way out of this but she knew that she had nothing. He had a kunai at her neck, she didn't have a weapon, and he was caught in his jutsu. Gritting her teeth she spoke up "...I surrender"

Genma landed next to the two when he heard this and raised the hand to gesture to Shikamaru "WINNER OF THE FOURTH MATCH: SHIKAMARU NARA!"

when this was announced the crowd cheered .

Shikamaru let his jutsu drop and rubbed the back of his head "troublesome. I really wish I could have just forfeit before this fight started. Now I hope that I don't become chunin" he said as he turned around and began to walk to the stairs

Temari looked confused at this "why did you fight if you didn't even want to advance and become chunin?"

Shikamaru stopped and looked up to where Naruto was sitting "because my friend would have wanted me to. And after what he went through in his fight, I feel like I should have done it to get his mind off it."

Temari just watched him walk away before she chose to follow

Genma nodded his head as he felt that someone of Shikamaru's caliber should be a chunin. He looked to the audience and announced "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. LIKE BEFORE THERE WILL BE A 20 MINUTE BREAK UNTIL NEXT MATCH"

* * *

~in the Kage booth~

Mei was rather impressed at how the Nara was able to plan out the movements the Suna-nin would do and use it to his advantage "a rather impressive shinobi you have. I would give my vote for him to become a chunin"

Hiruzen nodded his head "indeed. He is one of the brightest of his generation and he could very well surpass his own father as a military adviser. I must also commend Temari for staying focused on the opponent, it was wise that she tried to finish this fight before allowing her opponent to retaliate. Her mistake was allowing him to hide and think of a way to win. Either way they both have shown their potential and I agree with him becoming a chunin and would recommend that Temari be considered." he turned his head to Rasa "and what of you Rasa? What is your opinion on the match?"

Rasa didn't respond immediately as if in thought but sharply turned his head to look at Hiruzen "...I agree with you Hokage-dono". He turned his head back at the arena. 'I shall allow the jinchuriki to injure themselves before I begin. Soon I will be rid of not only this deteriorating body but my old sensei and that annoying Uzumaki'

* * *

~with Naruto~

Naruto was looking down at the arena floor and felt a bit apprehensive 'next match will be me versus Gaara. Tou-chan told me that I should not underestimate him, which should be obvious since he is sort of like me.' Naruto looked at his wrists and thought about how he should start the fight. From what he saw during the fight between Lee and Gaara, he knew that the defenses the sand-nin has would make it very hard for him to make a solid hit. Not only that the sand armor he has on top of his skin is another defense he has to go through. He would need to be just as fast, hit just as hard as Lee and he was not sure if he can just yet. 'I really hope all the training I went through helps me win this'

* * *

~20 minutes later~

Everyone had returned to their seats and were all waiting for the upcoming match

The Participating genin had their eyes on Gaara who looked pleased at what was coming up

The non participating genin had their eyes on the arena waiting for it to start

The Jonin were a little tense because of one of their own facing the one that injured Lee so badly

And Naruto was ready to jump down once called

Genma was once again standing in the arena "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! WE WILL NOW BEGIN THE FIFTH MATCH! WILL NARUTO UZUMAKI AND GAARA OF SUNA PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE ARENA FLOOR"

Like before Gaara appeared in a sand **Shunshin**, with his arms crossed and a blank look on his face

Naruto jumped from the roof, doing a few flips before he landed in front of Gaara. He felt that showing off a bit would help him calm down a bit

Genma could feel the tension between the two and felt the need to start this match as soon as possible. He lifted his hand and would have called for the match to start but a swirl of leaves began to appear between all three

Naruto caught the scent of who it was before the leaves dissipated 'about time they got here. Too bad the teme missed his chance'

Out of the swirl of leaves came both Sasuke and Kakashi. Sasuke was bow wearing a black high-collared one piece and bandages around his left arms (the finals outfit)

Kakashi had his hand on the back of his head as he eye smiled to Genma "sorry are we late?

Genma sweatdropped at the man "yeah you are. So much so that Sasuke Uchiha has been disqualified from his match"

Sasuke glared at Kakashi "you said that they would still let me fight regardless of being late!" he then turned to look at Gaara and his opponent. He scowled when he saw it was Naruto "what hell Dobe!? Why the hell are you fighting my fight?"

Naruto had gotten used to how Sasuke treated him so he just sighed as he answered "this is match 5. I won my match and since you weren't here for your's, I get to fight Gaara"

Kakashi felt a bit of pride that Naruto was able to win his match but he felt a bit of fear because of his opponent "well done Naruto-kun. Seems your training helped you out."

Naruto nodded his head

Genma cleared his throat to get their attention "if you would please clear the field. I have to start this match"

Sasuke was about to say something but Kakashi placed a firm hand on his shoulder. "Let it go Sasuke-kun. Go to where the rest of the genin are"

Sasuke felt his anger rise at not being allowed to fight. 'I should be the one fighting Gaara!' shoving Kakashi's hand off he made his way to where the rest of the participating genin

Kakashi watched as Sasuke let before looking to Naruto and gave him a thumbs up "good luck" and then he **shunshined **away

* * *

~with the Jonin~

Kakashi appeared next to his fellow Jonin as they all looked at him

Kurenai gave a soft glare at him "your late"

Kakashi, in one of the few moments of seriousness, answered "I know"

Everyone was taken aback by how serious he was. They expected him to use one of his usual excuses such as his most used "lost on the road of life"

Asuma pulled out his cigarette and spoke "you make it sound like you have an actual reason for it this time"

Kakashi looked down at his blonde student "I purposely tried to make sure that Sasuke wouldn't be here for his match" everyone was a little confused at this and before they could ask what he meant, he continued, "no matter how much I train him, I don't think he would have been able to win against Gaara. I used my lateness this time as a way to get him out of the chunin exams without him really knowing what I was planning. Honestly I was afraid that some of the higher ups would make an excuse that allowed him to fight. But thankfully it wasn't like that." he then looked down at Naruto "honestly I was hoping Naruto wouldn't win his match. I didn't want him to fight Gaara but I can't do anything about it now"

Anko slapped Kakashi in the back "aw don't look like he lost already. He wiped the floor with that stuck up Hyuga and I bet he will do the same with this one...which I did". Anko said this in order to lighten the mood and chose not to bring up what Naruto had done during the fight"

Guy walked up to stand next to Kakashi, with his arms crossed and a serious look on his face "it is true Kakashi-san. Naruto-kun had shown a most youthful battle against my student…..you should have more faith in your student. He would appreciate it much more, even if it was all you had in him"

Kakashi looked to Guy and slowly nodded before looking at Naruto again 'good luck Naruto-kun. Do your father proud.' as he thought this, he could see a transparent image of Minato and Kushina standing next to Naruto. 'With your new look ...you're even more of a spitting image of them'

* * *

~back on the arena floor~

Genma looked between the two and lifted his hand "are contestants ready?"

Naruto nodded and Gaara just stood there

Genma chewed harder on his senbon 'good luck kid.'

"BEGIN!"

* * *

End of chapter

F****** finally! I finished this chapter. Though it's still short to me

Honestly I had trouble with the fight between Shikamaru and Temari. I couldn't think of anything that could make it last longer and one of the alternates was somewhat dumb and didn't think it would work without a bunch of people calling it stupid.

Lets just say that it had to do with the clouds parting and Shikamaru using the shadows of the clouds to ensnare Temari and if it was only a few cloud shadows it might have made it less dumb but I was making it like the whole arena was covered in the cloud shadow and only a beam of light in the center of the field for Shikamaru to use. Either way, the match would have ended far quicker

Shikamaru's arsenal isn't very expansive so not much I could use in this

Next chapter will be the fight that I have actually been looking forward to

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	32. Monster vs Beast

FR: THEY ARE HERE.

FR clone: will it hold until negotiations are done

FR: hopefully

* * *

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

(author comment)

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

* * *

Chapter 32: Monster vs Beast

Naruto launched himself at Gaara the second he heard Genma finish. He saw that much like with Lee, Gaara didn't move at all from his spot. He just stood there with a blank look and his arms crossed but Naruto knew that it wasn't the redhead he should be focused on, it's his sand. Naruto threw a punch, aimed at Gaara's face and just as he expected the sand moved to block his attack. Jumping back, Naruto created a shadow clone and both charged again, this time in a pincer maneuver with the clone coming at Gaara's right and the original to his left. The clone gave a flying kick and the original go for a sliding kick. The sand blocked both and grabbed the legs of the Naruto and his clone. The sand spun them around once before throwing them away. They slid on the ground, with the clone dispelling and Naruto flipping back on his feet

Gaara looked into Naruto's eyes and spoke in his monotone voice "is that all? Mother expected more."

Naruto smirked as he charged again while placing his hand together in a prayer fashion. Once he was a few feet away, he jumped over him.

Gaara continued to stare forward, not concerning himself with what the blonde did. But his eyes widened when his sand blocked a heavy strike from above him. He then felt that his sand blocked something behind him, but the sand that blocked the hit above him still remained there. Looking up he saw that Naruto wasn't there and turning his head he saw that he wasn't there either

"Where are you looking?!"

Moving his gaze back forward he saw that Naruto threw another punch but again was blocked. He looked back up and willed the sand to move to the side and he saw that what was blocked were Naruto's bracers. Looking back, he moved his sand to see that the greeves were embedded into the sand defense

When Naruto placed his hands together he was really doing it to put his hands close enough to the clasps to undo them and when he jumped over he dropped them on top of him and once he landed behind Gaara he unclasped his greaves and threw them at Gaara's back. He then jumped back over and was lucky enough to land in front of him without being seen.

Gaara willed his sand to toss the bracers and greaves away and used the sand that blocked Naruto's fist, to grab hold and kept him in place. Gaara launched a tendril of sand at the struggling blonde

Naruto was pulling as hard as he could at the fist stuck in the sand until his eyes widened at seeing the sand head his way. The sand impacted in his stomach and pushed him back a good distance. The sand pulled back a bit before whipping at Naruto, which launched him to impact the wall hard enough to create a dent and cracks.

Gaara pulled back his sand and had it swirl around his feet. The amount of sand began to increase in mass as the ground around Gaara began to become sand itself from the grinding he was doing

Naruto fell face-first onto the ground "...ok ...that hurt". He lifted his head and his eyes widened when he saw a big wave of sand about to crash down onto him. "oh shit!" he quickly got to his feet and jumped to his right, narrowly avoiding the sand as it slammed onto the ground he was just laying at. 'Damn! Good thing I took off my weights or else that would have finished me'. He didn't have time to think anything else as he found himself dodging massive tendrils of sand aiming to slam, whip or strike him. "Where the hell is he getting all this sand!?"

* * *

~with Participating genin~

Shikamaru and Shino were watching with anticipation as they both were silently wishing their friend luck

Kankuro was standing a bit away from the Konoha-nin with her sister Temari as they watched the match "he won't last long against Gaara. If anything he is just delaying his death"

Temari nodded her head "too bad, kids got some skills". She then looked up to the general crowd and whispered: "think it will start soon?"

Kankuro turned his head to look at Temari "maybe. All we were told was that it would start during the finals

Temari nodded as she looked back to the match

Sasuke was glaring at the match 'this should have been MY fight!' and he looked to one side of the arena to see the tossed away bracers and greaves. He had quickly deduced that they were weighted 'going to keep that in mind since if it helped the dobe to become this fast then it will push my speed further than what Kakashi-sensei got me to'

* * *

~non-participating genin~

Most of the group were on the edge of their seats as they watched Naruto avoid strike after strike of large sand tendrils

Ino and Hinata were holding their breaths as he kept getting close calls

Haku was impressed on how Naruto had improved since he first met him but he also felt that if Naruto didn't do something soon he won't win

Lee had fire in his eyes as he watched his friend battle someone. He was also excited to see that Naruto had started using weight just like he did "YOSH he is showing his Flames of Youth!"

Lee wasn't the only one cheering. Kiba was cheering as well "Come on Naruto! Show him what you got!"

* * *

~back in the fight~

Naruto was running along the wall as chunks of sand kept impacting the wall behind him "he just won't let up!" he turned his head to see that Gaara had not moved at all but the ground surrounding the redhead was lower than it was before. "Damn sand!" he then jumped off the wall to get away from another strike. He, unfortunately, found himself in the air, where he wouldn't be able to dodge very well. He then saw three large waves of sand about to converge on him. "Alright! That's it!"He took a deep breath as the sand came closer

Gaara watched as his sand was about to finish off the Uzumaki "you will feed mother your blood"

Naruto gathered his chakra into his throat, aimed and threw his head forward

"**RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH**".

He let out a sonic roar that created a shockwave that was strong enough to blow away the waves of sand. The sand blew up into the stands cover many in the audience in it.

Gaara was wide-eyed as he saw what Naruto had done and landed on his feet. Gaara smiled at this as it showed that the Uzumaki was worthy of giving blood

Naruto coughed a little as he felt his throat sting a bit 'damn, still need to work on that one a bit'. He looked towards Gaara and was glad to see that the amount of sand had dropped.

Gaara willed the remaining sand to launch at Naruto

Naruto could see that the amount of sand was now smaller but he wanted to stop dodging so he gathered chakra again and blew out flames at the small tendrils coming towards him. He was able to fend off one after another with his flames and after a few more of them, they stopped. He looked to Gaara who had pulled back his sand 'must want to keep a certain amount to himself...but this is perfect'

Gaara had pulled back the sand that originally came from the gourd on his back and watched what Naruto would do next

Naruto smiled at the small reprieve "guess it's time to go completely all out" he said as he put his hands in the tiger seal

Gaara tilted his head a bit "do you mean to say that you have been holding back?"

Naruto gathered his chakra as he looked into Gaara's eyes "sort of. You didn't really give me a chance to do this earlier". Suddenly black writing began to appear around his wrists, ankles, neck and down his face. If someone were to look closely they would see that the rings that appeared around them were connected by a line of writing that went down his body. "KAI!" once this was said the writing shattered from his body. Naruto threw his arms down as he felt a surge of power. Blue chakra burst from his body and five streams of it began to swirl around him "HHHHHHAAAAAAAA**AAAAAAAAHHHHHH".** The chakra began to converge around him and for a brief minute, it shaped itself into a five tailed fox as it stood above him and began to be absorbed by Naruto. Once it was fully absorbed into him he smiled at Gaara

* * *

~audience~

Everyone was stunned silent at what they had just witnessed. For the shinobi of other villages, they all felt the burst of chakra coming from the boy and couldn't believe that the amount could be coming from a genin of all things. The civilians from other villages thought that it was a sort of technique that boosted up a shinobi's abilities though they were slightly confused as to why it showed as a five tailed fox. They all knew that the only multi tailed fox would be the Kyuubi but that had nine tails, not five and from those that had heard of what the chakra of the beasts look like, the chakra should have been red not blue, so they chalked it up to it just being for show that it had looked like a fox

The ones from Konoha all had a look of dread as they all thought that he had unleashed the Kyuubi and would begin to rampage in the village.

The civilians shrank in their seats and looked ready to run the second things went to hell.

The shinobi that still hated the boy, tensed up and mentally prepared themselves to kill him

* * *

~Non-participating genin~

They were stunned silent at what they had seen but not out of fear but in aw.

Kiba and Akamaru were looking with their mouths dropped

Sakura was wide-eyed at what her teammate had just done

Choji was frozen mid-bite

Haku was smiling, impressed at what he had done

Tenten was stunned as it reminded her a bit of Lee's Inner Gates

Lee wanted to cheer but he refrained himself due to his injuries

Ino had a thought run through her head 'five tails ...like the one in his head…..'

Hinata also seemed to have a similar thought 'it has the same amount as the plushie that Naruto gave me….'

Kiba out of his shock first "what the hell did he just do?!"

Karin shook her head when she heard the question "from what I can tell the writing he had on him were a sort of gravity, restraint and containment seals"

Sakura turned her head to look at Karin "what are those?"

"The gravity seals are used to increase the gravity on whatever it is placed on. I heard that it could be used in training but never saw it before. The restraining seals limit movement unless using chakra to a certain degree. The containment seal is just that, it's meant to contain chakra and keep it from escaping. It looked like it was an early stage of what it could be but to make a seal like that is way too risky."

Ino was the one to ask the next question "why?"

"A seal like that would have a 95% chance in destroying whoever it was placed on. The chakra that would leak out of the body when used wouldn't be able to escape and just rebound back. With the restraining seal the chakra used to move, it would be a constant stream of chakra being used and the chakra that would leave would recoil back and overflow the body causing massive damage to the chakra coils…...unless there was another seal on his body that we couldn't see that would contain the recoil chakra. In which case when he released it, could give him a big power boost but it's still risky to gain all that at once"

"It sounds really useful if it could be perfected but how did you know it's in an early stage?"

"The lack of intricacy the seal had. It was in all terms of seals: simple. Like they had meshed together rather quickly"

Ino turned back to the fight and looked at Naruto "why would he take the risk?"

Karin looked back to Naruto as well "well if anything, the removal of those seals will help him greatly depending on how much restraint they had on him"

* * *

~Jonin senseis~

Kakashi was impressed at seeing one of his students being able to keep his own against Gaara but what he was most impressed by was how far he came in his wind nature training. He taught Naruto the first step in it but here he was, one month later, tossing deadly blades of wind and they were just pure chakra manipulation. 'Wonder how far he would go if I teach him some fire Jutsu'. This was his thought when he saw how far Naruto came in his training but he was stunned silent when he saw what Naruto had just done.

Asuma dropped his cigarette. The immense amount of chakra was staggering. He shook his head as he smiled at remembering the amount of skill the boy had in wind chakra manipulation 'I should meet up with him. It would not only give me a chance to see what he can really do but I could talk to him about Ino'

Kurenai was surprised at seeing the level of skill Naruto was showing and the chakra fox that was released and absorbed by the boy 'amazing…and he was the one with the lowest scores in the academy. He has come far'

Anko was smiling wide "keep it up gaki!"

Guy had tears in his eyes "oh what a youthful battle! HIS FLAMES OF YOUTH BURN BRIGHTLY!"

* * *

~back in the fight~

Naruto took a deep breath as he felt relieved at removing those seals that he and Jiraiya came up with.

Gaara remained impassive at the whole light show that Naruto gave but on the inside, he could hear his "mother" screaming for his blood

Naruto looked at Gaara for a few seconds before running towards him

Gaara readied himself to block all the strikes that the Uzumaki would give but after said blonde got halfway towards him….he disappeared.

The genin watching were shocked at the disappearing act Naruto did but some Chunin and the Jonin could see what was about to happen

Gaara's eyes widened at this but he didn't have time to think about it as he felt a fist suddenly him on his left cheek

Naruto appeared right a Gaara's face and slammed his right fist into the redhead's face hard enough to send Gaara flying. He watched Gaara fly towards the wall and once Naruto's feet hit the ground he ran towards Gaara once more and got ahead of him. Once he was ahead, he turned around, stopped his momentum, brought his leg back before kicking Gaara up into the air.

"NA!"

Naruto crouched down and summoned four clones around him, one to his left, one to his right, one in front of him, and one behind him. The clone in front of him jumped up first, followed by the ones on his side and last was the one behind him

The first clone brought his arms back as he was approaching Gaara. The two clones reached out to grab onto the first clone's arms and were then pulled forward before they were launched faster into the air as they passed Gaara's still ascending body. Once the two clones were launched, the first clone turned his body before grabbing the arm of the last clone and used all his strength to swing him towards Gaara before he dispelled himself

The last clone spun in the air and gave a flying kick to Gaara's back pushing him further upward.

"RU!"

The two clones that were further in the air summoned one more clone before the two grabbed the third clone and both threw him towards Gaara and dispelled themselves as well as the one that kicked Gaara up more.

The last clone flipped in the air and brought his hands together before bringing them down on Gaara sending the redhead back down.

"TO!"

Naruto saw Gaara coming down fast and ran forward towards where Gaara would land. Once he got close enough he jumped up and spun in the air and gave a flying roundhouse that sent Gaara back towards the center.

"UZUMAKI VOLLEY!"

As Naruto saw Gaara fly away, he looked down and noticed that the sand that was meant to defend Gaara was too slow to stop what Naruto did. 'Good thing I went through all that training.'

* * *

~with Participating genin~

Temari and Kankuro were floored as they did not expect Gaara to be pummeled like this. It was shocking to see the green-clad genin do it but now this blonde did the same thing

Shikamaru and Shino were shocked for a second before they smiled at how their friend had changed the flow of this fight.

Sasuke was fuming 'how the hell did he get this power! I need to know how he did it' he thought as he activated his Sharingan to see what he could get from this fight but he was mad that he didn't have it on earlier.

* * *

~Arena~

Gaara bounced on the ground after the beating he had just received from the Uzumaki. He was now back in the center of the arena, face down and slowly getting back to his feet. He felt that most of the sand armor he had on had been shattered off and as he looked toward Naruto he gave a smile that made him look mad "yes Uzumaki! Prove my existence!"

Naruto channeled wind chakra into his claws as he pulled his arms back and swiped the air as he sent the blades of wind towards Gaara. However, much to his shock, Gaara brought up the sand around him and enveloped himself in a protective ball of sand. The blades of wind impacted the ball and left deep indentations in it but they were swiftly filled in again. He sent a few more swipes at Gaara but each time was the same thing. "damn it". Naruto decided to charge in and physically attack it in hopes he could get to Gaara. As he got closer he saw the ball shift a bit. Once Naruto was a dozen steps away, his instincts told him he should dodge an oncoming attack and he immediately had to bend backward to avoid a spike that came out of the ball. He had narrowly dodged the sand spike as it was an inch away from his nose but he didn't have time to thank his instincts for saving him as he had to shift his body again in order to avoid another spike that almost impaled his leg. He jumped back as three more spikes came out and would have pierced him in vital points of his body. He landed a good distance away and saw that the ball of sand now had spikes all around it. He grimaced as he tried to think of what to do next "Damn! If I get too close, I'll become swiss cheese! And my wind blades can't get through that thick sand. Now what? My wind blades are no good and my fire will probably just heat the sand up" Naruto stared at the spiked ball as he couldn't think of his moves to use on it. He was also glad that Gaara wasn't sending out the spikes to get him and giving him time to think of a plan. After a minute or two, he thought of something, it was risky but it could get through the sand "I hope this works". He put his fingers in a cross-hand sign "**Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**" and created thirty clones. He sent fifteen of them to create a ring around the ball, making sure that they didn't get any closer as to not force Gaara to attack. The other fifteen and himself created another ring a few feet further away. Now there were two rings around the spike ball, the inner ring of Narutos and the outer ring

* * *

~kage box~

Kurama tensed up a bit as he knew what his kit was about to do '**oh boy. Hope this one doesn't blow up in your face again kit'**

Hiruzen felt the tension come from the Kyuubi and all he could think was 'what is Naruto-Kun about to do? It seems to have the Kyuubi on edge for some reason'

Mei was extremely impressed with the actions of the two that were fighting right now 'and these two are genin. This batch of genin is astounding and these two are beyond. But I guess it's not surprising with the blonde being a Jinchuriki but I wonder what he is about to do with all those clones?'

Rasa was fuming as he was hoping that the Jinchuriki of the Ichibi would be able to harm the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi. He knew that based on overall power the Kyuubi outmatches the Ichibi but he knew that Gaara had more access to his beast than Naruto did. He knew that he didn't have much time left as his body was literally on its last leg 'ugh this body won't last long but if I want that boy dead I must last a bit longer' he looked over to the side where a hooded Anbu and just stared for a bit

The Anbu gave a nod and took a few steps back, crouched down and waited for the signal to begin

* * *

~Arena~

The clones of the inner ring began to channel wind chakra into their left claw until each had a certain amount encasing their claws. Once that was done they began to run counterclockwise and lifted their left claw and kept it straight as they held it out and turned their hand to look like they are clawing the air.

Everyone was confused about what he was doing. He wasn't launching any of the blades of wind they saw him do before but a lot of the audience figured that there was a reason for it. What they did start to notice was the increase of the breeze.

Naruto kept running until he reached to point of speed that he knew he could keep consistent. Soon the air around the sand ball began to become spinning. With the speed that Naruto was going at helping out what he wanted, a light twister began to form. It began to become stronger and stronger until it became a tall pillar of spinning wind.

Gaara who had his third eye floating above the ball was confused when he watched the Uzumaki begin to run around him but soon he noticed the wind spin around him. The spinning wind became so strong that the third eye was blown away. He could no longer see what was going on outside but he knew that the winds were still going as he felt the sand shifting with it. He willed the sand to remain in its shape but he retracted the spikes from around it and brought them to dig into the ground to make sure that he wasn't blown up into the air.

Once the pillar of wind was up, the outer ring of Narutos prepared the next step.

The inner ring stopped as quickly as they could and turned to face the pillar. They lifted all their arms and held their palms out as they focused on keeping the wind moving and from expanding any further.

The outer ring gathered up their demonic chakra and jumped into the air before they unleashed their demonic flame into the pillar. The second that the flames made contact with the wind, the pillar was set ablaze and soon a roar coming from the fire was heard as the pillar of wind became a roaring torrent of flames

Everyone gasped as they saw the pillar of fire rising out of the stadium

The entire village could see the pillar from where they were as if it were a beacon for all the lands of fire to see (the land of fire now has a beacon of fire. I just now noticed that)

The heat in the Stadium increased greatly and those that were not shinobi or use to such extreme temperatures were sweating and were also lifting their arms to block out the brightness of it

Genma had fallen off the wall he was standing on and brought his arms up as he squinted at the attack 'how the hell does a genin come up with something like this?!'

The out ring had stopped releasing their demonic fire and landed back on the ground. All the clones of the outer ring ran to join the inner ring and brought their hands up to keep up what they were doing. But they knew that they would not be able to hold it up for so long as the ones that were in the inner ring, were

After a few minutes, the clones began to dispel one after another. Naruto knew he had to cut it off otherwise he would kill Gaara with the amount of heat the attack was giving "NOW GUYS!"

The clones didn't need to be told twice as they all turn their palms upward and used all the control they had to send the attack upwards. Once the pillar was lifted off the ground, an explosion went off and sent all the clones back and dispelled them all. The pillar of fire began to lift up into the air

Everyone watched as the pillar rose out of the stadium and into the sky. Everyone was looking up with their mouths open as the flames flew up. Once it reached a certain point, the sky grew orange-red as it burst and exploded.

* * *

~Academy classroom~

The entire class were stunned speechless at what Naruto had just done

Iruka had his jaw on the ground at the sight of such a Jutsu being used 'how in the world did Naruto-Kun come up with that!?'

Moegi and Udon had eyes so wide that you would think that they would pop out any second

Konohamaru was the same but after a few seconds he pumped his fist in the air "THAT WAS AWESOME!"

This brought the class out of their stupor and they all began to cheer

"That was amazing!"

"How did he do that!"

"Think he can teach us that move?!"

"I'm going to train to be just as good as he is!"

"Hell yeah!"

Iruka shook his head at hearing all this and smiled at the classroom 'It seems you are inspiring the next generation to be better, Naruto-Kun.'

* * *

~back at the stadium, non-participating genin~

They all were still looking up in aw at what they had just seen Naruto do. They all slowly turned their heads back to the arena floor

Tenten spoke up in a subdued tone "I'm glad that I didn't have to fight Naruto-san. I wouldn't be able to handle that kind of move"

No one had a response to that. All they could do was nod slowly in agreement

* * *

~arena floor~

Naruto groaned as he began to pick himself up from the ground "...damn! Still can't finish that without it blowing up". Once he was on his hands and knees he looked towards where Gaara was. "...wow…."

The ball of sand that Gaara was using now shimmered a bit as it has now, instead of a ball of sand it became a ball of glass.

Naruto was sure that if the sun was out that it would sparkle and be too bright to look at. Naruto got back onto his feet as he walked to the ball of glass and tried to catch his breath. Once he stood next to it he took a deep breath before he examined the ball. Once he walked around it once he pulled his fist back 'this is going to sting like hell' and punched the ball hard, shattering the glass. Glass shards flew everywhere and cut his hand and arm up a bit. He waved his hand in the air as he felt the cuts on his arm "Ow ow ow! I hate getting cuts like this! They always sting!". When he looked to where he thought a burnt up Gaara would be he was surprised to see and crouching glass sculpture of Gaara. It took Naruto a second to realize that this was, in fact, Gaara, as he remembers that he had a layer of sand covering all of his body as a sort of armor. "Uh oh! I should get him out of that!". As he was about to try and gently hit the glass to only crack it he suddenly felt massive amounts of hate coming from Gaara. Cracks began to form on the glass and they began to grow. Before Naruto could react the glass exploded out and a few shards cut him up badly and a few embedded into his arms and legs as he flew back "Aaah!" He, fortunately, landed on his back where there was no glass and when he stopped sliding he lifted his head to look where Gaara was.

Gaara was sporting burns all over his body as he got up "it hurts! IT'S HURTS!" he brought his hand to cover his eye as his other eye shifted upward to glare at Naruto. "UZUMAKI!" sand quickly began to form around him, and as soon as enough was formed it was launched at Naruto

Naruto tried to get to his feet to get away but as he tried to get up he fell back as the glass shards were still in his legs "SHIT!". He looked up and saw the sand closing in. pushing through the pain he jumped back as much as he could…..unfortunately he couldn't get away this time as his right arm became covered in sand during his jump

Gaara had his free hand stretched out as he gave a mad smile. He then clenched his fist willing his sand to crush Naruto's arm

"AAAAAAHHHH!" Naruto screamed as he felt his arm being crushed by the sand. The sand fell off his arm as he fell to his knees as he used his left hand to hold his right arm as it hung uselessly on his side. From just above his elbow down to his fingers, were mangled up and bleeding profusely. His bones could be seen through openings in his skin and he could feel that some of the shards of glass that once stuck in his skin were now deeper in him

* * *

~Kage box~

Kurama bristled at how his kit was hurt badly by the rd head. He wanted to go down there and help but something caught his attention. He felt greed and malice increase form Rasa. Kurama turned his head to look at Rasa who wasn't even looking at the fight anymore. Rasa was looking back at an Anbu and Kurama noticed that he nodded at the Anbu. He saw that the Anbu created a hand sign and gathered chakra '**What the hell are you doing?!'** he thought as he snarled a bit

Zabuza tensed at seeing the gaki hurt 'damn kid. Should throw in the towel before he loses more than just an arm'. He looked up when he noticed something floating in the air

* * *

~non-participating genin~

Ino and Hinata were covering their mouths in shock at seeing Naruto hurt so badly

The rest of them were all giving different levels of shock at what their friend just went through

Karin wanted to jump down there and help out her fellow clansman but she kept herself in her seat, but the second she can she would go help heal him

Choji felt like he was about to lose his lunch at seeing his friends mangled arm

Sakura wanted to help her teammate but she knew she had nothing that would help

Akamaru was whimpering and Kiba was trying to calm him down

Gamakichi wasn't doing any better at seeing his summoner and friend hurt this badly

Haku grimace at the sight but something caught his eye and he looked up

* * *

~Jonin~

Anko felt like ripping something apart at seeing Naruto hurt. She wanted Naruto to quiet now to avoid any more. She knew that he already proved himself to become Chunin so all that was left was to surrender

Kakashi was praying to kami and begging to Naruto 'throw in the towel Naruto-Kun. You've done enough!' he would have continued this line of thought but something white began to fall from the sky

* * *

~participating genin~

The Shikamaru and Shino were grimacing at the mangle up arm Naruto now had. They both agree that it would be best for Naruto to quiet now

Sasuke was smirking 'hmph that's what you get for taking over my fight'

Temari and Kankuro felt a little bad for the kid but knew this was to be expected. Temari looked up to see that it was time for it to begin.

* * *

~Arena floor~

Naruto was gripping his arm hard as it continued to bleed 'damn it, I need to get the glass out of my arm before I start to heal'. He looked up at Gaara to see that the redhead was using the sand to reapply his sand armor but the look in his eyes showed that he wasn't finished yet and the sands seemed to keep piling on making his arm bigger. Before he could think of anything else, he noticed white feathers falling from the sky 'what the hell is that?' Naruto kept his gaze upwards, and for some reason felt a bit sleepy from looking but the pain in his arms kept him wide awake. Something else did catch his attention. The amount of hate that he felt coming from the audience was dying down. Normally this would be considered a good thing but the people of Konoha never let up their hate when he was around so it struck him as odd. A few seconds of pondering this was interrupted when…..

*BOOOM*

….an explosion was heard coming from the Kage box. Naruto looked up with wide eyes "JIJI!". As he looked up, he noticed that a bunch of shinobi started attacking Konoha shinobi. "What the hell is going on!"

"RRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHH"

Naruto looked back in time to see Gaara's left arm getting covered in sand and gaining a pattern on it but it was his left eye that shocked him. The whites of the eye had become completely black, while the iris changed from baby blue to a dark gold color with a star shape like pupil "what the hell?". Before he could say anything else, Temari and Kankuro landed next to Gaara

Temari looked over Gaara's form 'not good. He isn't supposed to unleash it so soon. There are too many of our own shinobi here!'. She took one of Gaara's arms as she looked to her other brother "we need to take him to our rendezvous point so he can heal. It's too soon for him to let the Ichibi out."

Kankuro nodded his head as he grabbed one of Gaara's arms and they jumped away carrying Gaara with them

Naruto got to his feet as he watched them "Wait!...". He took a few strained steps before he was then surrounded by what looked to be shinobi from Oto

One of the Oto-nin grinned at the injured blonde as he pulled out a kunai "this is the one that our leader wanted dead! We kill him and he will reward us greatly!" this caused the rest of them to pull out kunai of their own

Naruto gritted his teeth as he pulled out a kunai 'shit! I can only use one arm and there's still glass in my legs. Damn it!'.

The group of Oto-nin started walking closer but suddenly three of them had fallen to the ground with two of them having kunai in the back of their skulls and another having a senbon in his neck.

Genma dropped down next to Naruto holding a kunai of his own and stared down the rest of the Oto-nin "hey kid, think you can still fight?"

Naruto looked up at Genma and smiled "yeah!" he then summoned three clones to help "but give me a sec as I get the glass out of my legs"

Genma nodded his head as he and two of the clones charged the Oto-nin while the third clone crouched down and began to use its own kunai to dig out the shards of glass

Naruto gritted his teeth as he kept an eye on the surrounding Oto-nin "just hurry up and take them out so I can get into the fight"

The clone nodded as he dug one shard out "got it, boss!"

* * *

~with the hokage~

Hiruzen was being dragged to the rooftop of the stadium by Rasa. "why are you doing this Rasa, our villages have been allies for all this time, why side with Orochimaru?"

Rasa finally stopped jumping and landing in the center of the wide rooftop of the stadium. "Kukuku and why wouldn't I align with my own village"

To Hiruzen's mild surprise Rasa slowly brought a shaky hand to his face to peel off half of the skin to reveal Orochimaru "so…. you've taken on the role of the Kazekage."

Orochimaru chuckled as he dropped the skin "only to get them to cooperate. They were so easy to convince to join in on this little cause….." he was interrupted when a glob of lava was spewed at them. He let Hiruzen go and jumped back to avoid it

Hiruzen jumped forward and turned to face Orochimaru. As he landed, Mei Terumi and Zabuza dropped in next to him with Mei to his right and Zabuza at his left "a little close, don't you think?"

Mei smiled as she looked to Hiruzen "I knew you would be able to dodge that. Besides, that was a small one."

Hiruzen sweatdropped at that 'that was a small one? That was as big as me'. Hiruzen sighed as he glared at Orochimaru "so all this just to get back at me? You truly have fallen far"

Orochimaru chuckled again "you make your own enemies Sensei." once he finished saying this, a group of five Anbu appeared in front of him. One of them turned to him and presented him with a mask that had Hiruzen's eyes open wide

'How did he get his hands on…...Danzo' Hiruzen thought as he saw the mask given to Orochimaru and the masks the Anbu were wearing. All of them were blank 'so Danzo has gotten that desperate to assist him in the attack on Konoha. Even giving him some of his Root agents'

Orochimaru took the mask and smiled before grimacing "ugh! Damn that Kyuubi brat" he then gave a signal to a group of four, with one on each corner of the roof and a large purple barrier was erected around the two kages, sannin, and the root agents

Outside of the barrier were four Oto-nin wearing outfits, fit for those working under Orochimaru, and they held the barrier up to make sure no one entered to assist or escape from it

Orochimaru began to go through hand signs that shocked Hiruzen as he recognized the Jutsu Orochimaru was about to do

Before Hiruzen could take a step forward a fireball that came from one of the Anbu agents that stood alone in front of the two kages. Hiruzen shifted his gaze from Mei to Zabuza "we must stop him from completing that Jutsu!"

Zabuza was confused with the urgency the Hokage had in his voice "why? What the hell is that Jutsu anyway?"

Before Hiruzen could respond a rumbling could be felt from the roof and they turned to see three coffins come out of the ground "oh no!". The coffins opened up to reveal that each of them were empty, much to the shock and relief of Hiruzen, but he grew confused when three of the Anbu walked backwards into the coffins and were then sealed inside "what are you doing?!"

"Why sensei. They just volunteered to be my sacrifices" Orochimaru than threw off the Kazekage robes to reveal his normal attire and he peeled off the rest of the skin he had on his face

Hiruzen and Mei were shocked to see how deteriorated his body looked. He was missing his right leg, which was replaced with a prosthetic, the right arm appeared to be barely usable and half his face was burnt so badly that most of the skin was completely destroyed and rotted away. "One of your failed experiments?" he said with a bit of smugness

Orochimaru glared at Hiruzen "this…" he said as he pointed to himself "...is a result of that Kyuubi brat. He used a flame that caused this body to deteriorate"

Hiruzen couldn't help but smile inside as he was proud that Naruto was able to harm Orochimaru in such a manner. But he was soon filled with dread as he saw Orochimaru place the shinigami mask on and summoned the Shinigami, though in doing so he sped up the rot on his body. Hiruzen and Mei were about to charge forward but a mud wall appeared in front of them which delayed them longer and Hiruzen pulled out a kunai and parried the root Anbu before kicking him away

Forcing himself through the pain, Orochimaru commanded the shinigami to cut open its own stomach and pull out a single flame of chakra. During the cut, Orochimaru gained a large gash on his stomach and he knew he needed to finish quickly. Lighting his hands with his own chakra he moved the flame into the third coffin. He then looked towards the Root Agent that stood close by "now!"

The root Anbu turned to face Orochimaru, took off his mask, and opened his mouth as wide as he could.

Orochimaru released a large snake out of his mouth that had had his face on it and the serpent entered root agent who began to choke on it but once the serpent completely entered him he slumped down. He lifted his head as his face morphed into Orochimaru's and then stood up straighter as his body began to morph more into the sannin's original body. And his old body dropped to the ground and rotted more until it was nothing but mashed up rotten flesh on the ground.

Hiruzen finished off the Root agent with the help of Mei and slit the agent's throat before looking towards his traitorous student "how did you know about the shinigami sealing!?"

Orochimaru now in his new fully functionally body relished in being able to move fully again "kukuku I had a very good informant. He not only gave me these willing puppets but he had also informed me about how that cursed Yondaime truly died. After I was informed of this, it was easy to research how to counteract and release the soul"

'Damn you Danzo!'

Orochimaru then put his hands in a seal and activated the last step of the Jutsu.

The three coffins began to open and Hiruzen was sweating 'damn. I can't believe he summoned those three'

Mei looked towards Hiruzen "what exactly did he just summon?!"

Hiruzen kept his gaze on the three figures coming out "he has just summoned the previous Hokage"

Out of the three coffins came the first, second and fourth Hokage in their combat gear. They seemed to zombie their way out of the coffin and looked to have a look of extreme exhaustion and their skin tone was pale.

Hashirama looked at Hiruzen "well, it's been a long time Saru"

Tobirama also noticed Hiruzen "oh so it's you. You've gotten so old Sarutobi"

Minato gave a weak smile "well it's good to see you Hiruzen-san"

Orochimaru smiled at Hiruzen "well Sensei, this should be quite a reunion for you. Your own sensei, his brother, and your successor. My, you should be thrilled at seeing them again"

Hiruzen knew that this was going to be a very difficult fight and was about to rip off his robes to fight in his battle armor but he felt a shift in his robes and looked down. After a second he gave a small smile and looked up to Orochimaru "why are you so keen on attacking your previous home Orochimaru? Why do you hate us so much?"

Orochimaru's smile dropped as he heard the question "you continue to surprise me sensei. You blind yourself to the true nature of those around you….."

Hiruzen began to listen to Orochimaru's reason for hating the village as he thought to himself 'I hope you know what you're doing…..Kyuubi'

* * *

~meanwhile in the audience~

Kakashi had cut down another Suna-nin before running towards his destination while also killing as many Oto-nin and Suna-nin in his way. After a bit of fighting, he made it to where the non-participating genin and was surprised to see that some of them were already up and fighting

Kiba and Choji were doing their best to fend off any enemy nin from Lee who was unable to fight due to his injuries and Karin who was helping Lee get out of the stadium

Sakura and Haku were making sure that any civilians were getting out of the genjutsu and sending them to the closest exit

Gamakichi was holding tightly to Haku's head as the boy fought

Ino and Hinata were incapacitating their enemies using ninja wire and Juken strikes

Tenten was finishing off a couple more shinobi with a bow staff and tossing a few kunai

Kakashi shook his head as he got to them "is everyone alright?"

Sakura looked over when she heard the question "Kakashi-sensei! Yeah we're fine"

Kakashi nodded before he ducked, spun around and slit the throat of the Oto-nin behind him. He looked back to the genin "good. I need all of you to find your senseis for orders…." he was about to continue but he noticed the Suna genin in the arena floor begin to jump away but a few seconds later he saw Sasuke give chase 'damn it!'. He turned back towards the genin "change of plans I need a few of you to find Shikamaru and Shino and go after Sasuke and the Suna genin"

Ino tied up the last nin that she caught and looked to Kakashi "why Kakashi-sensei?"

"It seems that Sasuke-Kun has gone after the three Suna genin. I want a team to go back him up and try and capture them."

Sakura walked up to Kakashi "who are you sending Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi thought about it for a second before pointing out a few "Hinata, Ino, Sakura, I want you three to find Shikamaru and Shino and get them to go with you. Hinata a specific order for you. If you are able to, shut down the chakra network of Gaara as best you can. Ino you will be able to subdue one of them if you can get a clear shot. Sakura you will be able to help Ino by guarding her, Understood"

The three genins nodded their head, showing they understood their orders

"good, I will inform your senseis about this and will send back up as soon as I can" Kakashi then did some hand-signs and slammed his hand on the ground "**Summoning Jutsu**". Out of the puff of smoke came a small pug

"What's up Kakashi?"

"Pakkun I need you to follow these three, and once they get their last two members to track down Sasuke-Kun's scent. I'm sure you remember it"

Pakkun nodded his head

"Good now go!"

The three girls and dog nodded and left to get Shikamaru and Shino

* * *

~ a few minutes earlier, with participating genin~

Sasuke just launched a fireball at another group of enemy nin. He couldn't help but think that these shinobi were nothing but weaklings as they fell quickly. As he was finishing off another one he noticed the genin he was supposed to fight being taken somewhere else. 'This is my chance'. Without another thought, he lept down and chased after them as he began to run he glanced towards Naruto and Genma who were fighting off a group of Oto-nin. "hn"

Shino was using his insects to subdue the enemies around him as well as helping any citizens that remained. He noticed Sasuke leave the fight but he paid it no mind as he was unconcerned with what the Uchiha does. After a few more minutes of fighting, he saw Ino, Hinata, and Sakura coming his way. Once they were close enough, he brought in his insects and turned to face them.

Sakura spoke up for the three "Shino we have orders from Kakashi-sensei to have you and Shikamaru-san join us in backing up Sasuke-san as he has left to fight with the sun genin"

Shino nodded his head as he turned to where Shikamaru was laying. He would have tried to wake him up but he saw Ino taking care of it

Ino walked up to the laying form of Shikamaru before she put her hands on her hips and bent down to look at him "hey! Wake up you lazy bum! We have to get moving!"

Shikamaru's eyes opened up when he heard Ino talk and knew he wouldn't be able to fake it anymore "damn troublesome blonde"

Ino grew a tick mark but she took a deep breath in order to calm herself. She turned to the pug before speaking again "ok we're all ready. Lead us to Sasuke-san"

Pakkun looked at the group of kids before nodding and sniffed the air. After a few sniffs, he got it "got the scent, let's go" and he jumped towards where the scent was coming from

Everyone began to jump after the pug with Ino and Hinata at the back. As they left the seating area they both looked back to see Naruto still fighting the Oto-nin

'Be careful Naruto'

'Be safe Naruto-kun'

* * *

~back with Naruto~

Naruto was fending off the Oto-nin as he had finally gotten the glass out of his legs and was able to move better. He had no time to get the shards out of his arm though so it was still unable to heal. He was able to knock out another nin as he caught something in his peripheral vision. He turned his head in time to see Hinata and Ino runoff. 'Wonder where they're going?' after parrying another kunai slash from a Suna-nin something clicked into his mind 'that's…..the direction Gaara was taken?!'. His eyes widened when he realized that they must be going after the redhead. 'NO! They don't stand a chance against him!'. He jumped up to avoid a strike that came from behind him and he kicked his attacker in the back of the head. Once he landed he turned to Genma "Hey! I gotta go help out my friends! Can you handle the rest?!"

Genma looked back over his shoulder to give Naruto a nod.

Naruto didn't need any more prompting. He turned around and prepared to leave but he looked back and saw that Genma was still outnumbered. He created six clones to help him out before leaping away

* * *

~in the village~

Shinobi from Konoha were fighting off against shinobi from Oto and Suna.

Unfortunately for the invaders, the Konoha shinobi were already prepared for this as they were informed by the Hokage that an attack was expected from them

As the Konoha shinobi felt that they would be finishing up with the enemies they were shocked to see that three massive snakes were summoned and began to change the tide of the battle

The snakes began to destroy any building they had in their path. They slammed, swiped and pierced their tails in all that was around them with no restraint

The Konoha shinobi began to fall back from the snakes in order to get a better footing to attack but before they could do anything they heard

"**Bring down the house Jutsu"**

And three different toads landed on each of the snakes stopping their attacks dead. Jumping down from one of the snakes, came Jiraiya as he began to take down all the enemy shinobi around him

The people began to cheer when the sannin came and brought the battle back to their side

After ten minutes he finished the ones on that street before looking towards the stadium "I still think he should have let me stay with him but he just had to order me to protect the village." he then looked at the three downed snakes "But I guess it was the right call"

* * *

~with the back-up team~

The team were tree hopping through the forest in pursuit of Sasuke and the Suna-genin

With Hinata taking up the rear, she had her Byakugan active to make sure she kept track of anything around them. A few minutes more and she spoke up "I see Sasuke-san just a bit ahead of us"

Shikamaru nodded his head "ok. Let's move it so we can catch up with him"

As they pushed forward Hinata spoke up again "wait! We have a six following us"

Shikamaru grimaced when he heard this "damn. We are gonna have to have someone stay back and deal with them"

Shino began to speak "I will fall back in order to…."

"Troublesome. Alright I will stay and hold them off" Shikamaru interrupted as he stopped on a branch and turned to face the oncoming shinobi

The rest of the group kept moving but looked back at the shrinking form of Shikamaru. They knew that they had to keep going and knew that Shikamaru would be more than capable of taking care of himself

They moved their gaze forward as they push forward faster to catch up with Sasuke

* * *

~with Sasuke~

Sasuke was gaining on the sand genin as he could see them ahead of him. He was excited to face off against Gaara as he wanted to beat him to prove himself better than someone everyone seemed afraid of. He stopped jumping when he saw that the one wearing the black full-body catsuit stopped and face him "I'm not after you, so get out of my way"

Kankuro glared at the Uchiha as he pulled out his puppet "sorry but yours going to have to deal with me anyway"

Sasuke glared at Kankuro but he figured that he would deal with him fast and get to his real target so he got into a stance

Before either of them could make a move, a cloud of insects popped up in between them.

Sasuke looked to his left to see Shino walk up with his arms stretched out with his insects coming out of his sleeves

Shino stopped right at Sasuke's left before he spoke, "you should let me handle this one Uchiha-san. Why? Because I am more suited in facing a puppet user while you are more suited in facing the other two"

Sasuke smirked at this and noticed that Sakura, Ino, and Hinata were with them as well. "Hn fine just stay out of my way" and with that, he and the girls leaped towards where the other two went

Kankuro was about to give chase but he was stopped by a cloud of insects. He looked back to Shino and glared

Shino just looked on "you should never turn your back on your enemy. Why? Because it would more than likely get you killed"

The two-faced each other and both thinking that they do get to see who would have won the match back in the Chunin exams

* * *

~with Temari and Gaara~

Temari had put Gaara on a branch in order to take a breather as she had no doubt that Kankuro would be able to deal with the Uchiha. She looked at Gaara and could tell that he was about to let loose and she didn't want to be around when he unleashed the Ichibi 'was this even worth it?'. She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard

"**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu"**

She jumped back in order to avoid a fireball passing by her and Gaara. She looked over to see the Uchiha along with a few others 'damn it!'

Sasuke had a smirk when he landed on a branch to face the two but he became shocked when he saw Gaara. The redhead's left half was now covered in sand with a blue pattern on it and the eye looked completely different than it did before.

Gaara turned to face the newcomers and locked on to Sasuke "UCHIHA!" he then leaped after him and stretched out his sand arm, which elongated and charged at him

Sasuke and the girls all scattered to get away from the sand claw but Sasuke had to keep jumping around as the claw followed him

Hinata landed to Gaara's left and aw an opportunity in attacking since Gaara's attention was on Sasuke. Leaping towards him she activated her Byakugan and prepared to strike. But as she thrusted forward her strike was blocked by a wall of sand

Gaara turned his mad glare to Hinata before he sent a sand fist into Hinata's stomach.

Hinata was launched back until her back hit a tree forcing her to cough up some blood. She fell down onto a large branch that was under her

Sakura saw what happened to Hinata and wanted to go help her but knew that if she tried she would be taken out too. She had positioned herself behind Gaara and threw a couple of Shuriken as well as some of her paralyzing senbon hoping that at least one of them hit its mark. She was disappointed when a wall of sand appeared behind him and blocked all of her projectiles. Her eyes widened when the wall started shooting out sand kunai at her and she jumped out of the way as a shower of them began to follow her. She was saved when Ino jumped over her and threw a kunai with an explosive tag attached towards the wall. Once it impacted it exploded causing the sand kunai to stop. Sakura looked towards Ino with a grateful smile "thanks Ino"

Ino nodded as she looked at Gaara who was unfazed by the explosion "I don't think we have a chance against him with that sand protecting him

Temari was hiding a bit away as she didn't want Gaara to turn his sights on her. She knew she didn't need to help him as he was far more dangerous than she was but she was still worried about her little brother. Even if she feared him, she still loved him so she will help if he needs it

Sasuke was gritting his teeth as he was still being chased by a sand arm and even when he was able to get past the claw, another one came out of the arm which pushed him further away. He was now jumping from branch to branch as he made his way closer to Gaara with the claw still behind him. As he got closer he saw a wave of sand kunai shoot out of Gaara's side forcing him to activate his Sharingan in order to dodge most of them while he blocked the rest with a kunai he pulled out. What he didn't expect was that when he dodged and blocked the kunai he slowed down enough for the claw behind him to wrap around him "damn it!". He was then brought closer to Gaara

Gaara stared into the eyes of the Uchiha "is this all you have Uchiha! you're weak!"

That pissed off Sasuke as he struggled to get out of the sand claw "let me go and I'll show you what I can do!"

Gaara snarled as he willed the sand to crawl over the Uchiha's body "your blood will sooth mother"

Sasuke struggled more but soon found that sand was covering his head and he was about to have his face covered. But in the blink of an eye, he saw it.

"HAAAH!"

Naruto had appeared and kicked Gaara in the side of the head which sent him flying

Sasuke fell onto his hands and knees breathing in some air as the sand fell off him. He looked up to glare at Naruto "Dobe! I didn't need your help!"

Naruto turned his head to glared down at Sasuke "shut up! If you have realized, I just saved your ass so why don't you pull the stick out of your ass and get ready!" he turned to where Gaara landed to see him come out of a plume of smoke and the sand around his body increased, giving him a tail

"UZUMAKI!"

Gaara jumped after the two and launched his sand claw at them

Naruto threw a bunch of kunai with explosive tags attached at the arm while he watched Sasuke launch a fireball at Gaara

The tags exploded the arm while a wall of sand blocked Sasuke's fireball

Naruto flipped in the air to land on the side of a branch before launching himself at Gaara

Sasuke also charged at Gaara at the same time as Naruto

Gaara watched them get closer as he swung his tail at them

* * *

~meanwhile back with the hokage~

Orochimaru had finished given Hiruzen his reasons for what he had done and pulled out two kunai and placed them into the back of the heads of the first and second Hokage before he moved to the fourth "these kunai are laced with the DNA of the Hokage's and with the tags they shall obey my commands". He then did the same thing to the fourth before taking a step back

The three kages began to have steam come out of their body as their complexion began to become tanner and the look of exhaustion that were in their eyes began to lighten up into a more neutral expression

Zabuza gained a look of realization "I remember hearing of this. It's supposed to bring back the dead by using someone else's body. I thought it was just a rumor since it sounds like a good way to bring back monsters to fight for you"

Hiruzen nodded "you are correct Zabuza-san. Tobirama-sensei had created the Jutsu but he had not completed it. It would seem that Orochimaru-san has finished it."

The three resurrected Kage finally looked like they did before and they got into a fighting stance

Hiruzen thought about the upcoming fight and turned his head to Mei "Terumi-san, you fight against Hashirama-san…" he then looked to Zabuza "Zabuza-san, you fight against Tobirama-sensei." he then looked back forward "I shall deal with Minato-san"

Mei looked passed the three kage towards Orochimaru "what about the snake?"

Hiruzen smiled as he grabbed his robes "no worries. We shall be gaining an ally soon enough" and he threw off his Hokage robes and hat to show him wearing his black battle armor."

The robes and hat landed a bit away, near the edge of the barrier

Hiruzen decided that he would not hold back for this, and bit his thumb and went through hand-signs

Orochimaru immediately knew what Hiruzen was doing and look to the three kage "stop him! Do not let him summon!"

The three kages charged forward ready to stop Hiruzen

Zabuza and Mei intercepted their respective opponents while Minato moved passed them and towards Hiruzen

Hiruzen slammed his hand on the ground before Minato could stop him "**Summoning Jutsu"** and a large poof of smoke cover the two.

Before Minato could react, a white fur covered fist impacted into his chest sending him away

The smoke cleared to show Hiruzen standing next to his summon: Monkey King Enma. "so you finally decide to fix your mistake?"

Hiruzen sighed as he nodded "yes old friend. This time he will not leave this battle alive"

"Bout time. But first, we should deal with the one in front of us"

Minato got back on his feet grimacing at from the strike before pulling out one of his tri-pronged kunai

Hiruzen nodded with a smile "well we won't have to for long"

* * *

~back with Naruto~

Naruto flipped backwards to avoid another tail strike aimed at him and Sasuke. They had been on the defensive since Gaara seemed to gain more and more of a monstrous appearance. He had tried to use his wind blades and flames like during the exam but the sand seemed to be quicker to react and denser so they couldn't reach him. He landed on a branch and looked around at the ones helping him.

Sakura was knocked unconscious and pinned to a tree and was bleeding from her head from the impact.

Hinata was lying unconscious on the branch she fell on earlier and has not woken up from it, which he was glad about since it meant that she wasn't a target

Ino was standing on another branch, above him as she was there to throw explosive kunai when she had the chance but Naruto knew that she was running out of them and he really didn't want her around much longer

Sasuke was sporting a few cuts and bruises from being hit from sand kunai and sand fists

Naruto was the worst one out of all of them. With all the fight and chakra used to keep moving, his arm hasn't had time to heal at all. It was still bleeding profusely and he still hasn't removed the glass from it. He felt a bit woozy from the amount of blood loss but he had to keep moving since Gaara was a major threat He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a high pitched chirping coming from his side. Turning to his left he saw Sasuke holding a lightning ball in his hand 'Kakashi-sensei must have taught him that'. He looked at Sasuke then to Gaara and grew wide-eyed "Sasuke wait! You're too far away! You won't be able to get close enough!"

Sasuke just kept his glare on Gaara "shut up and watch me Dobe!" he jumped towards Gaara and prepared to pierce the redhead.

Gaara watched the Uchiha coming towards him and threw both his left and his now sand-covered right arm towards the Uchiha and stretched them out to grab him

Sasuke dodged the first sand claw and was able to shift himself in the air to avoid the second. He was confident in being able to hit his mark now that he avoided the two claws but his eyes grew wide when he saw another one come out of the stretched out arm and was coming straight for him. He gritted his teeth, getting ready for it but before the sand claw could get him he felt a shove coming from his right. He was shoved out of the way of the claw and he flipped into the air and landed on a branch to see that it was Naruto.

Naruto had made it just in time to get Sasuke out of the way of the claw but he was not as lucky. The sand claw had grabbed on to his right arm and kept going. Naruto gritted his teeth as he felt the sand squeeze his already injured arm and felt himself fly back. The sand claw impacted a tree and pinned Naruto to it by his arm "Gaaaaah!"

Sasuke watched the whole thing and was in a state of shock and this was a mistake.

Gaara sent his tail towards the Uchiha and since he wasn't paying attention he didn't react and was hit by the tail which sent him flying into the tree behind him, knocking him out

Naruto was using his left hand to claw at the sand to get himself free "damn it! Let go!"

"Naruto!"

Naruto looked up to see Ino coming his way "No! Get out of here! Get the others and leave!

Ino stopped when she heard this and she was conflicted. She wanted to help Naruto get out of his situation, she was afraid of Gaara and wanted to leave and she was slightly happy to hear him talk to her again regardless of the situation they were in

"GO!"

Ino shook her head when she heard this and turned around ready to get the others out of there. She looked back and without another word, she lept away

Naruto looked down back to Gaara as the redhead was staring at him 'need him to just keep his eyes on me'.

"You…...why do you worry about them?!"

Naruto was somewhat shocked to hear Gaara talk to him in this state, even if it was more growling out the words than speaking. He had expected him to just fight on instinct alone but he figured that he wasn't one to talk "I worry because I care about them!"

Gaara grew closer to Naruto until they were a dozen feet away from each other "you care? Why do you care? Monsters like us should only care about no one but ourselves!"

Naruto was shocked. 'How does he know? No, I don't think he knows what I am. He just knows that we hold tailed beasts'. Then something Gaara said bugged him "'Monter' I am not a monster. I've seen monsters and they have been after me for all my life. NO! I am no monster! If anything I am a Beast! And I will always worry about the ones that I care about! They make me strong!"

Gaara glared at Naruto with hate in his eyes "your wrong! They make you weak!"He then turned around and launched himself in a certain direction

Naruto's eyes shot open when he saw what direction he was heading to "NO!" he began to pull hard on his arm that was still pinned

Ino was picking up a now conscious Hinata in order to get themselves out of the area "come on Hinata! We need to go!"

Hinata held her head as it was still throbbing "I-ino?" she said as she looked up and her eyes widened when she saw Gaara land in front of them

Ino turned to where Hinata was looking and gasped in fear

When Gaara landed he sent out his sand towards the two girls and had it grab their feet

Naruto was panicking. He knew what Gaara was about to do and he needed to stop it. He gritted his teeth and put all his strength in pulling on his arm "come on! COME ON!"

"Aaahhh"

"Aaaaaaahhhh"

Naruto heard this and looked up to see both Ino and Hinata with sand up to their hips "NO!" he didn't care about the pain, he needs to get them out of there. So using every ounce of strength he pulled. After a few seconds, he could hear it, feel it but he pushed through it and then he was free. He fell to his hand and knees as blood came pouring out of what was left of his arm. He had ripped off the damaged arm and it was now just a stump. He could feel himself become dizzy from the pain and blood loss but he didn't care he needed to move. He lifted his head towards them and his heart stopped. Ino and Hinata were covered to their shoulders and they had a look of utter fear

Hinata was afraid. She was struggling to get out but she was unable to move much. Her gaze fell on Naruto and tears came to her eyes. Naruto: the boy who saved her, who encouraged her, help her, was always there for her when she needed him to be there…..the one who forgave her for abandoning him. The boy that she never got a chance to say what she always wanted to say for years

Ino was trying to think of a way to get out of the sand. She knew what this could mean but she didn't want to give up just yet. As she was looking around for something to help her until she spotted Naruto and what he had just done. Naruto the one who she became friends with all those years ago. The one who she could spend time with and never feel bored. The one she hurt and yet he made sure she felt better after her match with Shino. The one she missed having by her side. She one she just realized that she wanted to say something really important to

Naruto was stumbling on his feet and willing himself to move forward but his body wouldn't listen. He fell to the ground 'DAMN IT MOVE!'

"Naruto!/Naruto-Kun"

Naruto shifted his head to look up and tears began to all as he saw that Hinata's and Ino's face were the only things left and his ears heard a few things that hit him hard for a few different reasons.

"**SAND COFFIN!"**

"Naruto/Naruto-Kun….I love you"

"**SAND BURIAL!"**

"NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"**

* * *

End chapter

Should I expect hate from this …...yes BUT before you get on my case …..I can't say anything otherwise it would spoil it, just before you unfavorite or hate me. I implore you to read the next few chapters when they come out, please

Now for the less impactful stuff

This was originally going to be two chapters but as I was writing the first part, it just kept going and going until it became this big one. I think it makes up for the last one being so small

What do you guys think of the Uzumaki Volley? I wanted to make a variation to the Uzumaki Barrage

As for the flame pillar. That I had planned for a while and if you want a reference to what it looked like (I just remembered about this when I put it here) watch Prince of Egypt. Which I do not own

If any of you got the little nod to the other anime than you get a cyber cookie

Now to let you guys know that I will most likely be editing this chapter a lot to fix up some errors that I know must be in this s please forgive me if it says updated when there is no new chapter up yet

few edits made, went through a better spell checker than G-docs. too bad I don't have word :P

also check out my profile for my future story Ideas as well as the stories I have up so far

Please read, favorite, follow and review


	33. Battle on 3 Fronts

FR clone: negotiations have begun sir

FR: good. We may live to see another day.

FR clone: what if they fail?

FR: than we press on with what we have

* * *

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

(author comment)

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

* * *

Chapter 33: Battle on 3 Fronts

The multiple fights that were going on suddenly came to a stop when a massive explosion of chakra could be felt by all of them.

The fight between the kage continued despite the burst of chakra as they could not feel it through the barrier. There was only one that could feel it but the situation at hand did not allow him to focus completely on it. '**Stay strong kit'**

Jiraiya paused as he felt the chakra but he was in the middle of a horde of shinobi so he had other things to worry about 'hope the gaki is alright'

In the stadium, Kakashi paused in his fight as he felt Naruto's chakra '...oh boy'

Hana finished a Gatsūga with her ninken but as they got to their feet the ninken whimpered at the burst of energy. Hana could feel the hair on the back of her neck stand and she knew what it could mean 'Naruto-Kun…..'. She was brought out of her thoughts when Tsume landed next to her

"Don't worry about the pup. He can handle himself!"

Hana nodded as she lept back into the fight

Anko finished off a group of Oto-nin by throwing them threw a wall that led out of the stadium. She stood at the hole when she felt the chakra from her favorite gaki. "Shit he needs help!" she was about to rush to Naruto but she was blocked by another group of enemy Shinobi. "damn it! You better stay alive Gaki!"

Tenzo was wrapping up another of his captures when he felt something burn in his hand. Looking down at it he saw that a number was being burnt into his hand "oh no!" he was shocked at this but one thing got his attention along with the number. Normally the writing would be simple black but when he looked at it the writing, he noticed that half of the strokes were black while the other half were red. "What could this mean?"

* * *

~with Naruto~

"NNNOOOOOOO**OOOOOOO"**

Naruto's body burst out red chakra as it swirled around him. Naruto stumbled back onto his feet and in a flash, his flesh burst from his body to reveal red and black energy underneath. Once this was done he fell forward and held himself up with his single hand and feet. The shape he had began to change, his face began to be pushed forward, his torso began to reshape and his feet became hind legs. His head soon became that of a fox, with his eyes glowing white as well as the inside of his mouth which had jagged teeth much like it did when he was in this form. He looked to the stump of his right arm and a new arm burst from it. Now on all fours, he gave a screeching roar towards the sky as five tails came into sight.

Gaara watched all this in morbid fascination, wanting to see what another monster would be like. He chose that this would finally be a battle of monsters so he called for more sand to envelope him. He soon began to grow in size as the sand started to take the shape of a Tanuki.

Naruto wasn't done with his transformation as a sixth tail came out and soon something white began to come out of his body. Bone structures soon popped out and began to hug on to his energy body. The bones on his arms began to melt onto the arms becoming a sort of white armor, the rib cage wrapped around his torso with the spine growing a long spike in each vertebrae, the skull shrunk to become a helmet and the jaw melted as it moved to cover the ears. Last was six spines come out of the tails and attached to the top of them and ribs came out of each spine to wrap around their respective tail. Naruto began to move causing cracks to show where the joints were and he looked up to the, now, full size of the Ichibi with Gaara in the forehead.

Gaara looked down at Naruto with a mad grin "still think that you aren't a monster UZUMAKI!?"

"**Grrrrr ROOOOOOAAAAARRRRR" **

"PROVE MY EXISTENCE UZUMAKI!"

Naruto jumped to the side to avoid one of the massive sand claws and landed on top of it as he began to run up the arm aiming for Gaara. He jumped off the arm to avoid the second claw and used one of his tails to swing under the arm he was on, launched himself on the second and jumped off towards Gaara. Swiping at the boy he found that he hit a wall of sand that dispersed from from the blow. Naruto swung one of his tails towards the redhead but met another wall of sand.

Gaara's defenses were able to appear for each blow but unlike what would normally happen, the sand didn't hold against the attack, the sand defense kept getting blown away from claw strike and tail swipe. He brought up his right sand claw to backhand Naruto away.

Naruto flew away further away from the village and deeper into the forest. He crashed down leaving a large crevice in the ground. He got up with no signs of injury and looked up in time to see a large sand fist come down on him.

Gaara slammed the and fist onto Naruto and then brought up the fist and brought the second one to envelope the fist as he now had the sand wrap around Naruto and was squeezing him.

After a few seconds, the sand fists exploded in sand as Naruto burst from it and stretched his arm towards Gaara with the bone armor staying the same size and split into three sections, forearm, bicep and his hand.

Gaara sent out a sand tendril that had a hand at the end to meet up with the stretched out arm of Naruto. The two met in the middle and became locked with each other until Gaara began to swing the sand tendril around bringing Naruto along with it. After spinning Naruto around for a bit he swung Naruto into the ground, creating a crater.

Naruto got to his feet in the center of the crater and looked back up at his target. With reckless abandon he charged in again

* * *

~Naruto's mindscape~

Naruto opened his eyes to find himself in his mind but he was unsure of how he got there. "What am I doing here? I thought I was in the middle of fighting Gaara and …"

"Finally awake huh?"

Naruto turned around fast as the voice he heard was familiar but different at the same time. What he saw caused his eyes to grow wide. It was a black fox with a red pattern that was the same as his own black ones. "Who are you?!" Naruto asked as he looked into the other foxes eyes which were red pupil-less iris' in a black abyss

The black fox chuckled at the question "I'm you"

Naruto was shocked by the answer but before he could think about it he had to shift his head to the side to avoid a bite from the black fox "Hey! What the hell!?". He was then hit in the side of the head from one of the black one's tails. Naruto, not liking being attacked decided to counter by biting on said tail and swung the Black fox around, slamming him into several trees.

The black fox swung another of his tails into Naruto's head several times, harder and harder but Naruto refused to let go.

Naruto then chose the slam the black fox into the ground hard, causing cracks to appear Once the black fox was on the ground Naruto pounced on him and pressed his paw on his neck "Now! WHO ARE YOU!"

The black fox smile as he looked up at Naruto "I told you, I AM YOU!" he then opened his maw and blew fire into Naruto's face.

Naruto reeled back as he felt the fire burn his face and he had to close his eyes. He then felt something bite him in the neck and bring him down to his side. He cracked open an eye to see the black fox biting down on his neck. He swung his tail to hit him off and Naruto got back on his feet. The black fox rolled on the ground and Naruto opened his maw, and blew his own fire at the black fox.

* * *

~with the Kages~

Mei was able to counter a good portion of the first Hokage's wood-style but the sheer size of the Jutsus were enough to keep her on her toes "**Yōton: Yōkai no Jutsu"****. **Mei launched her Jutsu at the time Hashirama landed so he was hit with her attack on the leg and arm which caused him to fall to the ground. Mei watched as her Jutsu melted both his arm and leg into nothing. She felt that the fight was over, seeing as how he would not be able to walk or fight efficiently. But she was shocked to see that once her Jutsu melted through, the arm and limb began to reform, in a way that made her think of watching paper burn in reverse but slowly. Mei quickly realized what this could mean and went through her hand signs again and launched her Jutsu again but this time on the whole body 'maybe I can finish this by destroying it all'. She stood there watching the acidic liquid meet its mark and melt the first Hokage into nothing. She turned her head to see that Zabuza was having trouble with his fight so she jumped over to help him out

Zabuza prided himself in his art of silent killing. He also prided himself in his fighting ability and his skill in ninjutsu. He at the moment felt his pride being bruised as he was on the losing end of his fight. Every Jutsu he launched at the second Hokage was redirected or nullified, his skills with a blade was on par with the dead Hokage and the mist Jutsu would be useless as the moisture used would only give the kage another weapon to use. Zabuza cleaved another dragon Jutsu that was bigger than he has ever made before, it was thanks to his use of the same element and his skill with Kubikiribōchō that allowed him to last this long. But the tip of the blade was sliced off from a water Jutsu that was aimed at his head and he was able to dodge only for the Jutsu to cut the tip off. He couldn't even replenish it due to the lack of any blood from the kage "damn it! If this keeps going, I'm going to tire myself out before I can get rid of him!". After he dodged another water dragon, he saw the second Hokage get hit with one of Mei's Jutsu which brought him down. Zabuza looked over to see Mei land next to him

"It looked like you were having a bit of trouble." Mei said as she placed her hand on her hip and smiled at Zabuza "couldn't handle a single opponent could you?"

Zabuza glared at the woman "piss off! This guy has the same element as I do and uses my Jutsu against me. Yeah, I can do the same but he is on a whole different level!"

Mei looked over to the melting second and smirked "well good thing I was able to finish off mine to help you out"

Zabuza then shifted his sight to behind Mei "you sure about that?" he said as he pointed behind her

She shifted her gaze to see the first Hokage slowly reshaping "damn it!" she then looked to the second Hokage to see the same thing happen to him

Meanwhile, with Hiruzen, he and Enma were fending off Minato as best they could but Hiruzen found himself being uppercutted into the air before a kunai flew past him and then a flash to show Minato above him. He was able to right himself and got into a grip-lock with the fourth "anytime now!" he then kicked Minato down close to Hiruzen's Hokage robes. He rolled over them before righting himself. Enma was then in Minato's face and punched him towards Orochimaru

Orochimaru was watching the three fights with extreme interest. He was fascinated with how the new Mizukage had two elemental kekkei Genkais at her disposal: the lava release and the boil. Both with fire half of each. He sidestepped to avoid Minato flying his way. He looked down at the fourth with a condescending smirk "well, I know that you are not at full strength but I had assumed that you would put up a better fight against sensei" he turned his head so he could watch his sensei running towards the two. Not looking back to Minato he smirked but something odd happened that caused him to pause

"Maybe it's because I've been holding back"

Before it could register in the snake sannin's mind he heard the powering up of a Jutsu. He then felt something impact hi back with extreme force and he was launched forward towards Hiruzen.

Enma transformed into Hiruzen's staff which was caught by said man and Hiruzen swiped and the flying sannin's right arm, cutting it off.

Orochimaru fell face first onto the tile roof as his mind tried to figure out what had just happened, he slowly turned his head to see behind him and saw Hiruzen standing with Minato "W-what happened?"

Hiruzen smirked as he remembered how they were able to get Minato on their side

* * *

_~Flashback~_

_Hiruzen watched Orochimaru approach the fourth Hokage ready to do the same to him as he did to the first and second. He whispered into his robe "are you able to do anything?"_

_Within Hiruzen's robs was Kurama who was using his claws to hold on to the cloth "__**yeah. Be glad that your student likes to brag and that I have spent so much time with my kit"**__. Kurama focused a bit as he was not used to using Jutsu but he was able to create a clone that then __**henge **__into the tag they saw hang on the other kunai. He was glad that they were obscured by the Hokage robes and that he remembered how his kit dd these. Kurama peeked out from the robe to see that Orochimaru started putting in the kunai. The __**henged **__clone immediately replaced itself with the tag. It was so last second that Orochimaru didn't even notice. Once the tag was in front of Kurama he used a bit of fire to burn it. Kurama felt the memory from the clone and shivered a bit at the feeling the clone got from entering the fourth as well as the whispered order it gave the resurrected kage _'_**pretend to fight'**__. He quickly grabbed onto the robes when he noticed Hiruzen grip them and soon felt himself flying away. He hid inside the robes watching the fight and waited for a chance to make a move. It came when Minato rolled on the thirds robes and in a quick motion he was able to make the jump from the thirds robes to the fourth's, and whispered _"_**you have something I want back but for now follow Hiruzen's lead"**_

_Minato nodded slightly. He didn't know who it was that attached to the inside of his robes but if he was helping Hiruzen than it must be an ally._

_~flashback end_~

* * *

Hiruzen looked back to Minato and spoke up "a bit unorthodox but you were able to turn the tide of this battle"

Minato felt something fall off his robe and heard a poof. Out from behind him and walking in front now was a boy wearing a rob similar to his but with nine black flames at the bottom. What caught his attention was the spiky blond hair. From the back, he felt like he was looking at a miniature version of himself. This brought a thought to his head "Naruto-Kun?". Said boy turned around to look at Minato but what the man saw were not the blue eyes he had seen his son had when he was a baby. They were red with black slits

"**Sorry but he is in the middle of another fight with my brother"**

Before Minato could question what was going on with his son Hiruzen spoke up

"Whatever it is you wish to know will have to wait! Kyuubi do what it is you wanted while we hold Orochimaru off!"

Minato watched as Hiruzen went to fight the sannin and his mind stopped when he caught what Hiruzen said "Kyuubi?!"

Kurama looked up to the man and knew this would be hard if he didn't stop the man from thinking the worst-case scenario "**before you say anything, this is merely a clone that Naruto is letting me use. He is alive and well. But let's move on since we don't have a lot of time."** Kurama looked back to Hiruzen to see that he and the now transformed back Enma were making sure that Orochimaru did not undo the resurrection Jutsu just yet. Kurama looked back to Minato and spoke again **I want my other half back and before you go off on how I might go and destroy this village, know this that the seal you had placed on Naruto has been broken and I am free to do whatever I want. I choose to stay inside Naruto as he is not strong enough for me to leave him without killing him and I will do everything in my power to make sure that doesn't happen! This Jutsu give me the only opportunity to become whole again and I will take it but I also want you to do something else"**

Minato was still unsure about what the Kyuubi wanted but asked: "What is it?"

**The chakra construct that you had inside Naruto has used most of its chakra and will disappear in a manner of minutes. Will you please add more chakra in order for it to last longer. Naruto would be really happy for that"**

This really caught Minato off guard. Here was the strongest of the tailed beasts asking for something that would make Naruto happy. "How can I trust you?". He watched as the Kyuubi controlled clone raised his fist to him

"**Bump fists with me"**

Minato was confused about this but he slowly brought his fist to meet with the clone's. Once the fists touched Minato felt some chakra that felt like his own enter him and he was bombarded with memories

"_**Please...save him"**_

"_I want to be angry but….."_

"_NO! EXPLAIN NOW BEFORE I BEAT THE ANSWER OUT OF YOU!"_

"_SO CUTE!"_

"_Kushi-chan, Naruto…..it's almost time"_

"_Can't you stay longer?! Why do you have to go so soon?!"_

"_I don't want you to go."_

"_We will see each other again"_

Minato smiled as he got those memories and looked down at the Kyuubi "thank you for taking care of him" he then brought his free hand to his stomach and did a twisting motion to unlock the seal. Red chakra flowed from his stomach, up his body, and through his arm into Naruto's arm. After the transfer was done Minato sent a large amount of his own chakra into the boy and smiled down "before anything else happens let me say this: keep looking after…..our son"

Kyuubi nodded his head "**of course"**

They dropped their arms to look back and see that the others needed help. They both nodded at each other and went to help

* * *

~back with Naruto and Gaara~

Naruto was running across the forests at top speed and around Gaara who kept shooting sand bullets at him.

Gaara was watching him run and was getting annoyed at how Naruto kept dodging the attacks "YOU WILL PROVE MY EXISTENCE AND GIVE YOUR BLOOD TO MOTHER!". He placed his hands in a seal "**Feigning Sleep Jutsu!"**. He then slumped as the Jutsu took hold.

The giant sand Tanuki that was made of sand began to move on it's on "**hahaha I'm FRRREEEE!"**. The Ichibi was free and looked behind him to see Naruto running on his back. He smirked as he made his move

Naruto was halfway across the Ichibi's back when a hand made of sand came out and grab him before lifting him into the air and tossing him back down to the forest "**hahahahaha so much for the damn fox"**

Naruto got out of the crater he was in before charging at the Ichibi

The Ichibi see something coming towards him at great speeds channeled chakra and swung it's tail sending a massive gust of wind

Naruto saw this coming stopped in his tracks, opened his mouth and unleashed his demonic fire. The fire made contact with the wind but since the wind was of greater size the flames were still sent at Naruto who was enveloped in them but he didn't stop the stream of fire. After a few seconds, the flames that enveloped Naruto began to rebound back towards the Ichibi which hit in its arm causing a good portion of it to turn into glass. Naruto bolted towards the Ichibi again and began spewing flames at different parts of its body, causing more of it to turn to glass.

The Ichibi shot out a ball of sand in front of Naruto causing him to fly into the air, which the Ichibi used to grab him from the air. Ichibi began to slam Naruto into the ground multiple times and once that was done he squeezed his hand in order to crush Naruto

Naruto burst from the hand, flew in the direction of the Ichibi's head and with his arm pulled back swiped at the prone form of Gaara on the Ichibi's forehead but a sand tendril came out and swatted Naruto away. Once Naruto landed, he stared at the distant form if the Ichibi and growled. He moved his six tails so each of the tips were above him. Lifting his head several balls of small blue and dark red orbs burst from his body but he didn't change his position. The orbs began to collect into one spot between the tips of his tails.

The Ichibi saw this and grinned "**so you wanna play like that huh? Then we can play like that"**. He then opened his mouth as a small purple orb began to form within it.

All the orbs that floated around Naruto had fused into a purple ball the size of his torso and began to compress. As the orb shrank, the ground around Naruto gave in due to the density and power coming from the orb. Naruto lifted his head and opened his maw and reached up to eat the orb. Steam began to pour out of between Naruto's teeth and his body began to bloat until it became round and his cheeks puffed up a bit

The Ichibi internally smirked, "**time to play chicken!"**. He then launched his Bijuu dama at Naruto as it moved a great speeds

At the same time, Naruto opened his mouth and a large beam of power was launched from his mouth

Both the beam and ball of energy created massive trenches, destroying anything living that was in their path from trees, plants and any animal that had not left yet as well as creating massive gusts of wind that uprooted trees. The two impacted in-between the two, tailed beasts and were competing with each other.

Naruto kept up the stream, pushing the Bijuu Dama back as best he could.

The Ichibi sat there watching the struggle with a smirk on its face. An idea came to his mind and he began to channel chakra into his mouth and sent out a blast of wind towards his Bijuu dama

Once the blast of wind impacted the Bijuu dama, the orb destabilized and in the blink of an eye it detonated, creating a blinding light that was followed by a massive explosion that shook the earth that was felt by everyone in the village

* * *

~Meanwhile in Naruto's mindscape~

Rain began to pour down as the grass began to wilt due to his mind being in such turmoil, with him and Yami fighting/ flames engulf the trees from the bursts of fire that were launched from the two foxes

Naruto bit down on Yami's neck, with his paws holding down his body. He couldn't stop Yami's tails from hitting him in the head and body, which caused grunts of pain to escape his mouth but he held him down

Yami knew he was losing the fight but he came up with a way to turn this around "so tell me...how does it feel?". He saw Naruto's eyes shift to him "how does it feel to finally get rid of those two?"

Naruto's eyes widened as he knew who he was talking about and in that moment of hesitation, he loosened his bit, which gave Yami the opportunity to slip out and slash at his face. "Argh!" he didn't get a chance to retaliate as he was hit by a stream of fire that pushed him against a tree

Yami dropped his stream of fire "you finally got what you wanted: their death!"

Naruto's eyes shot open in rage as he got back to his feet and charged at Yami "I NEVER WANTED THEM DEAD!"

Yami dodged the feral attacks as he continued to taunt Naruto "yes you did. You wanted them to pay for what they did to you, just like you want to kill the old man for keeping all these things a secret from you." he lept back to avoid a tail slam "just like you want to kill everyone in the village for what they did to you!" he saw Naruto charged forward with his head down and he did the same. They met in between with a headbutt as they pushed against each other "admit it! You hate them all because you know that they will betray you! All of them will turn their backs on you when they learn the truth about you!"

Naruto was furious at everything Yami said. He wanted to claw at Yami's face off for saying all that about the people he cared about. 'What does he know?! He doesn't know a thing about me! I never hated them! I know that the one's important to me would accept me if they found out so why would he…..'. Something clicked in Naruto's mind and this made him even more furious. He began to push back against Yami who became wide-eyed at being pushed back

Yami dug his paws into the ground and stopped his movement

Naruto pulled back, causing Yami to fall to the ground as Naruto sidestepped. Naruto focused a bit and he changed into his human form

Yami got to his paws and turned around, only to be punched in the side of the head. He then found himself being pulled by the tails before he was spinning in the air and thrown into a tree

"Your afraid"

Yami, who was just getting back up looked to Naruto

"Your afraid that they will hurt us again ...that's why you hate them. Because if you hate them, it won't hurt so much if they do betray us. But you remember about the time ….Hinata-chan left us when we first became friends. You remember when….Ino-chan…...and I had that fight and we stopped becoming friends ..."

"Shut up..."

"You remember every beating the villagers did to us and them saying that I don't deserve friends, family or to be happy"

"Shut up!"

"You remember how it hurt to hear that Jiji kept all of those secrets from us. How Minato-tou-chan sealed Rama-tou-chan in us, which is why the villagers hate us so much. How Rama-tou-chan left us when we were younger…."

"I SAID SHUT UP!"

Yami lunged at Naruto with his maw open and went to bite Naruto's head off

Naruto brought his hands up and grabbed the top of his maw with his right hand and his left grabbing the lower. Naruto fell on his back while trying to keep Yamin from biting him

"THEY ALL HURT US! BEAT US! THEY KILLED US! WHY SHOULDN'T WE HATE THEM?! WHY SHOULDN'T WE GET REVENGE ON THEM?! WHY SHOULDN'T WE GET PAYBACK!? WE DESERVE TO GET IT!"

Naruto kicked Yami off before jumping at the black fox and pinned him down "and what would that do? What would that make us? It would make us the same as them. Do you think we should do what they did? To beat them because we hate them?" he pushed Yami's head harder into the ground "you seem to make it sound like you are the only one that holds hate for the people. I may not like them but I will make sure that I don't become the monsters they were. I am a tailed BEAST! Not a monster". Naruto took a deep breath to calm his anger and let go of Yami before getting up "I'm done here". He turned around and walked away from Yami

"DON'T TURN YOUR BACK ON ME!"

Naruto looked over his shoulder "I wanna thank you actually"

This caught Yami by surprise.

"It's because of you that I can keep going. You take in most of my anger, hatred, sorrow, every negative emotion I have, you take most of it. I hope you continue to do this for a bit more"

Yami's eyes were now wide "y...you aren't going to try and get rid of me?"

Naruto shook his head "no. if I had to guess, the only way to get rid of you, I would need to accept all of you and even if I acknowledge you….I can't accept you ...not yet."

"But why?"

Naruto looked down with a sigh "because if I do accept you, it would mean that I accept all the crap that the villagers have done to me and I can't do that. Not yet anyway."

Yami just looked shocked and didn't know what to say. He expected that Naruto would try to get rid of him by trying to destroy him but here he was just walking away. he got up to his paws as he watched Naruto disappear from the mindscape

* * *

~meanwhile with the Kage~

Orochimaru was at the moment seething at how this fight had gone. He had expected the three resurrected kage that he summoned would push his sensei into a corner before killing him, sure the addition of Mei and Zabuza was not in the realm of his expectations but he did not consider them to be a major game-changer compared to the kages. What he did not expect was that lose control of the fourth and for the demon brat to appear and cause more problems. The body he had taken over, did not have anything that could be used as it was merely a placeholder for when he takes over Sasuke. not only that but he needed to avoid the flames the young jinchuriki was spewing out since it was these very flames that caused so much damage to his previous body. He knew that if he were to change bodies so soon, he would have to wait more before he can take young Sasuke's body. He thought about canceling the reanimation Jutsu in order to remove Minato but if he did, it would do the same with the first and second Hokage since he has not completely mastered the Jutsu, only the aspect of resurrecting. This would put him at a major disadvantage as he was heavily damaged already. He was brought out of his musing as he had to jump back in order to avoid another stream of fire

Kurama and Hiruzen stood side by side as they faced off with Orochimaru. It was decided that these two would face the snake as Hiruzen felt it was his responsibility to take care of him and Kurama because his demonic flames were the ones that caused the corrosion of Orochimaru's previous body. Hiruzen would make sure that Naruto's clone did not dispel and would attack Hiruzen when he could.

Minato had changed to flow of the fight with the other kage. He would assist Mei by telling her to aim for his tri pronged kunai and Minato would teleport Hashirama and Tobirama to it so they would be hit by her Jutsu. After they had gotten them both it was only a matter of attacking before they completely regenerate.

Orochimaru noticed this and knew that he had lost. It was his ambition that was keeping him from retreating as he had expected his soldiers as well as his Suna Pawns taking out many of the Konoha shinobi.

Hiruzen and Kurama landed in front of him as Hiruzen began to speak "you have failed my foolish student. All of your plans have been neutralized and your forces are being taken care of as we speak."

Orochimaru gave a wide smile at this "oh, and what makes you believe that my plans have been foiled?"

"We have known about your spy for a while now, even before the exams. Thanks to one of our genin, we gained valuable information that allowed us to prepare for any contingency. As we speak, my Anbu should just about be finished with taking care of your forces."

Orochimaru frown as he looked out to the village through the barrier, and he noticed that his summons that he allowed a few of his subordinates to use with summon scrolls are no longer going through the village. The only summon he could see were toads, which meant that the pervert Jiraiya was here. 'Damn it! They prepared far better than I assumed they would. Even with the little warning I gave them, they should not have set up this many precautions' as he finished this thought, he recalled the part where Hiruzen said a "genin". Turning his glared to Naruto, he scowled 'this boy has become more trouble than I originally thought'

As this was going on an explosion was heard by them all and they felt the whole building shake from the force of the shockwave.

While everyone was trying to regain their balance, Orochimaru took this opportunity to jump back to the edge of the barrier. He signaled his sound four to drop the barrier and they gathered around him. "The plan has failed! We must retreat at once!"

Hiruzen regained his balance and notice Orochimaru begin his retreat. He was about to jump in but something beat him to it as he saw the Kyuubi jump into the air

Kurama saw the snake trying to leave but he still felt the need to punish him for hurting his kit. Gathering all the chakra the clone had left and adding a good bit of his own, he took in a deep breath, puffed up his chest and let out a large wave of fire towards the Oto-nin and Orochimaru

The five enemy shinobi saw the flames and did their best to jump out of the way. The four Oto-nin were lucky enough to get out of the blast range with only their clothing being burnt. Orochimaru was not so fortunate as the edge of his foot was burnt. "Damn you boy!" Once he landed the largest of the four landed next to him, picked him up and carried him off.

Hiruzen walk up to the Kyuubi, who landed on the ground before falling to his knee. "Are you alright?"

Kurama looked up to Hiruzen "**heh that was punishment for what he did to my kit in the forest. I used most of the chakra this clone had, so I won't last much longer."** he looked back to the other fight going on as the shaking of the explosion allowed Hashirama and Tobirama to regain enough to start to fight back but with Minato on their side then they just needed to subdue the two so the Jutsu would either cancel out or they would need to find a way to destroy them. He got up and began making his way to said fight "**they still need our help, so move!"**

Hiruzen looked back in the direction his traitorous student left but he knew that his assistance is needed on the other kage. He turned back to the fight and jumped in to help.

Minato was in the middle of a taijutsu fight with Hashirama and he couldn't help but be impressed with himself at being able to hold his own with someone who went toe to toe with Madara Uchiha. He had faced someone who claimed to be him but in a weakened state. This, however, was different as at the moment he was not at full strength. Getting into a deadlock with his predecessor he was surprised to see Kurama come in and kick Hashirama in the side of the head. He looked down at Kurama and smiled "thanks for the help"

Kurama nodded before speaking "**just to let you know, this clone won't last any longer. Hell, it's a miracle that it lasted this long. So before we continue, do you have anything you want to say to Naruto?"**

Minato smiled as he thought back to the memories he got from Kurama. He looked to the first Hokage who was getting back up and pulled out a small blank tag "yeah. Tell him: I'm proud of him"

Kurama nodded as both he and Minato charged at Hashirama

Hiruzen had given Zabuza and Mei an edge at fight Tobirama as it was now three against one. They made sure not to give the second Hokage a chance to use any Jutsu so they kept up an assault.

Hiruzen knew that they would not be able to keep this up and he came up with a way to subdue the resurrected Hokage "Mei, you must cover him in your lava Jutsu! Zabuza, once he is covered used a water Jutsu to cool it down

Both nodded, getting an idea of what he wanted

Hiruzen moved forward to engage in a taijutsu fight, with Knma in his bo staff form, and waited for a moment before he kicked him away. Hiruzen went through a few hand signs and shouted "**Roof Tile shuriken**". Tile from the roof they were fighting on floated into the air and were sent whirling at Tobirama which were deflected and dodged.

Mei used this opportunity to go through her own hand signs "**Yōton: Yōkai no Jutsu"** and launched a glob of lava at the still distracted kage. The lava completely covered Tobirama who tried to remove it.

Zabuza immediately launched his own Jutsu "**Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu**". His water dragon Jutsu spun around the clump of lava and began to evaporate as well as cool the lava. The lava began to solidify and become a tomb for the second Hokage much to the relief of the others

Minato had slapped on a gravity tag on the back of Hashirama and with the help of Kurama they had placed one on each of his limbs and by pushing as much chakra as Minato could, they had been able to subdue the first.

The battle had ended and they were all exhausted

Kurama knew that the clone was about to disappear but he had one last thing to do so he looked towards Hiruzen "**hey old monkey! I need a favor from you"** he then turned to Minato "**and you too"**

* * *

~with Naruto and Gaara~

The Ichibi was getting tired of being turned to sand by a little nat that was hard to pin down and right now both his arms were right now turned to glass. Shattering them he began to reform the arms and sent sand tendrils at the charging Naruto who kept dodging. What was odd was that throughout the battle, the fox seemed to be getting faster and faster. So much so that now it was hard to even hit him

Naruto zig-zagged through Ichibi's attacks and was determined to get to the redhead. Leaping up into the air, like a bullet, he made his way towards Gaara, this time swiping at all the sand tendrils that were aimed at him.

Ichibi tried to reform his arms faster but it took a large amount of sand and chakra to do this. He saw the fox coming in and brought up a wall of sand to block Naruto.

Naruto blew a small stream of fire at the wall at such heat that a bit of it became glass quickly, which he went through.

The Ichibi's eyes widened at this and began to move back but the speed Naruto was going he knew he would make it "**no no NO!"**

Naruto was upon Gaara and in a quick motion, to fast for the defensive sand swiped at Gaara so hard that the redhead was sent flying down to the ground

"**NOOOO I JUST GOT MY FREEDOM! DAMN YOU KURAMA!"** the sand construct of the Ichibi began to sag and clumps of him began to fall to the ground as he soon became a giant pile of sand

Gaara had woken up from his Jutsu and found himself in a crater, bleeding profusely from all over his body. He heard something land hard onto the ground close by and moved his eyes to see the bone armored chakra form of Naruto "n...no...sta….stay away from me! You can't erase my existence!" he tried to move but his body wouldn't even move a finger

Naruto stalked towards Gaara as if prey coming in to finish off a kill. Once he stood above Gaara, he slowly raised his claw, ready to finish Gaara off

Gaara had felt something that he had not felt in years: fear. He closed his eyes waiting for the strike. But after a few seconds, he didn't feel anything. He heard something hit the ground and it sounded like wood hitting the ground. He slowly opened his eyes to see the fox with his left arm still raised but the bone armor that covered them began to break apart before falling to the ground.

Piece after piece of the bone began to fall off his body. Soon the only remaining armor that remained was the one on his right arm that seemed to melt into the arm. The red energy began to pull back, starting from the lifted arm and slowly pulled away from the rest of his body. As it was being pulled back it revealed orange fur underneath and once it reached his torso the black pattern became visible. The head was the last to be revealed.

Gaara saw the white lights that were the eyes soon became replaced by azure blue slitted eyes

Naruto slowly lowered his claw and looked down at Gaara a sad look "no…..I won't erase your existence. As much as I want to make you pay for what you did …...I won't become like you. Or like the villagers that hate me" (just to let you know he is talking like Kurama. Opening his mouth but not really moving his lips)

Gaara was confused at this "why? Why do you still fight for them if you are like me?"

Naruto shook his head "that's just it Gaara, I'm not like you but…..I could have been"

"What?"

"Look at me Gaara. This is what I am. This isn't a **henge** or anything. This is what I have become because the villagers killed me but thanks to someone important to me, I was saved by becoming this. But I won't become the monster they think I am. That is why I said I am a 'beast', not a 'monster'. Monsters are the ones that hurt me and you, the ones that hate us for something we didn't have a choice in. I could have ended up like you but the same could be said about you. You could have become like me, not like becoming a beast but by the way I live my life. I have people that are important to me. I get stronger so I can protect them and it hurts when I lose them" a tear fell from his eye but he continued "I try as best I can to enjoy the time I have with them because if I am not strong enough, I might never see them again and that thought scares me. I am strong for them because I want to be with them. You only fought for yourself and it has left you alone without anything to look forward to, but you could because you have people already that care about you" Naruto looked up from Gaara to the newcomer that came

Gaara turned his head and his eyes widened when he saw Temari with her hand on her fan look warily at the fox

"Get away from him!" Temari tried to sound brave but it was clear she was scared of the multi tailed fox standing over Gaara

Naruto looked down at Gaara as he smiled "having people you care about around you is better than being alone. It gives you something to look forward to" Naruto turned around and began to walk away from the two Suna-nin

Temari got closer to Gaara, with her gaze on the retreating fox. Once she lost sight of the fox, she took her hand off her fan and knelt down to Gaara "Gaara, you are going to be fine. We are going to get you help"

Gaara turned his head to look in the direction of Naruto. He thought about what was said to him and what it would be like "I'm sorry"

Temari stopped looking over Gaara and looked to his face

"I'm sorry for everything"

Temari sat there stunned at hearing Gaara apologize to her for the first time in a very long time. After a minute she smiled at her brother "it's fine."

* * *

~with Naruto~

Naruto had walked deeper into the forest and made it to a small clearing that wasn't destroyed from the battle. He stood in the middle, with his gaze forward but not really looking at anything. For a few minutes, he stood there not moving but soon tears began to fall down his face. Like streams, they fell as his breathing began to become heavy and frantic. He began to bare his teeth as his fur began to stand up. He brought his two paws up, balled them into fists and brought them down hard "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!". The force of it shook the ground a bit and he began to slam his fist into the ground over and over again "damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT! I'm sorry…...I'm sorry I couldn't save you two! I was too weak! What good is all my strength if I can't save anyone *hic*. I was right there and I couldn't do anything". He was hunched over as he let his sorrow out. After a few minutes, he heard a noise behind him but he didn't move at all. Right now he didn't care about anything else right now.

"Naruto-Kun?"

Naruto's eyes shot open as he had recognized the voice. He quickly shifted his head to look behind him and his eyes were as wide as they could be as more tears fell from his eyes. There standing in front of him was Ino and Hinata, looking at him with apprehension but he didn't notice that. He slowly got to his paws and made his way slowly to the two who also moved closer to him. Naruto was standing in front of the two, with Ino to his right and Hinata to his left. He had not lost his look of utter shock as he slowly brought up his right paw as if thinking that if he made any sudden movement they would disappear. He sat down as he placed his right paw on Ino's left cheek and he brought up his left paw to be on Hinata's right cheek. The tears increased as he suddenly brought the two into a hug with his head in their chests "you're here *sob*! You're here! You're alive! *hic* you're alive…..."

Ino and Hinata hugged Naruto as they also began to cry along with Naruto. They smiled at how despite him being a fox, he was still the Naruto they knew. They fell to their knees still hugging Naruto and they stayed there for a minute before they heard him say quietly

"Don't wake me up."

Both Ino and Hinata were confused at why he would say this but he continued softly

"I don't care if this is a dream or a genjutsu, just…..don't go away…..please"

Hinata and Ino hugged Naruto tighter as Ino spoke up "it's ok Naruto, we're here…" Ino smiled as she hugged him "we're here."

* * *

End of chapter

Yeah you knew I wouldn't really kill them off after all I did with the three

Now for those who want to know how they survived, it will be in the next chapter

Speaking of the next chapter. It is one I have been waiting for, for a very long time. I am looking forward to it and you should too

Now for this chapter. It was damn hard for me as there are three fights going on at the same time and my mind kept going back and forth with them.

Ok someone asked me to do this and I guess I should have clarified this sooner. I was asked what was still organic in Naruto and I was hoping that It would have been somewhat obvious but I guess not. Anyway, as of now the only thing that is organic in Naruto is now just his heart since I have just removed his organic bones

Speaking of which, I wanted to do a variation of the six tailed form. The bone aspect is still there but I made it as a suit of armor he wore instead of a floating exoskeleton that floated around him and instead of a foxified human form it's his fox form just the red chakra energy instead of his fur

Check out my other stories if you have the chance. Who knows you might like them too.

**notice:** I am going to my early chapter to fix them up and put them into the format that I have moved to. this is mostly to get those naggers, who keep saying I should take an English class or stop because the grammar is bad, to shut up. I know that my earlier chapters had so many mistakes but instead of telling me what to fix they just say that I should stop writing. Well, I'm going to keep writing because I WANT TO. I am not being paid, I am not commissioned and there is no one telling me to write.** I** am doing this because **I** want to and to those who have gotten passed my poor grammar, gotten this far and enjoyed the story, thank you and hope to hear from you readers in the reviews

Please Read, Favorite, Follow and review


	34. The end of an era

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

(author comment)

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

* * *

Chapter 34: The end of an era

Ino and Hinata sat on a couple of chairs as they watched Naruto sleep in the hospital bed. Even though they knew that the six tailed fox that was sleeping in the hospital bed was, in fact, Naruto, they still had trouble fully accepting it.

Ino was laying her head on the bed as she looked up at the muzzle of Naruto. "Are you going to tell us what happened to him?" She turned her head to look behind her to see Anko leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.

Anko looked up to see the two girls giving her an expectant look. She knew that she wouldn't be able to keep this a secret anymore but she wasn't sure how much she should tell them. Taking a deep breath she pushed off the wall and walked up to them "What I am about to tell you is something that must not be told to anyone else! This is an S-class secret and in all honesty, I am putting my life on the line by even telling you….but you've already seen him like this so there is no way I can lie to you about this." She saw the two girls nod before she continued "When Naruto was younger, something happened to him that forced him into this form. He has been like this ever since."

"The Kyuubi did this to him ...didn't it?"

Anko was wide-eyed when she looked towards the Yamanaka girl "how did you…?"

Ino looked towards Naruto "He has so many connections to the Kyuubi. His birthday is the same day as the attack the Kyuubi did against the village, his favorite animal is a fox and when he undid that weird seal during the finals, that big chakra fox came out before he absorbed it. I don't know what his connection is but I know Naruto-kun well enough that he isn't doing anything bad."

Anko was impressed at how much she was able to come up with. She would have assumed that the Nara on her team would have figured it out but it only made sense that if someone sees the pieces than they could figure it out. She smirked as she nodded her head "You are smarter than you look blondie."

Ino turned to glare at Anko but after a second she sighed "My dad has always taught me to look for clues to make sure that I don't miss something. I just didn't think that all of the clues would show Naruto becoming the Kyuubi." she laid her head as she sadly looked at Naruto

Hinata was also looking sadly at the fox

Anko felt the need to tell them the whole truth but she knew that she was pushing it already. She groaned as she looked out the window that had its curtains closed and mumbled under her breath "where's the old man when you need him!"

As if the world was answering her prayers, the Hokage walked in with Kakashi and Tenzo (he is still an Anbu). When Hiruzen noticed the two, he paused as he was not expecting them. He knew Naruto was here due to Tenzo able to track him but he did not know that there would be two of his classmates here. He looked to Anko with a questioning stare.

Anko shrugged her shoulders "Hey they were the ones that brought him here. I just helped them out."

Kakashi turned to glare at the woman "What did you tell them?"

Anko glared back at Kakashi "I only gave them the bare minimum and if anyone deserves to know the truth it's them. They don't seem to care about what he is, they only care about who he is, which is more than I can say for this village."

Hiruzen sighed as he knew there was no way he could come up with anything that would be able to hide this now. He looked to the two girls who were looking a bit nervous at the three coming in. He walked up to stand in front of the two girls and looked past them at the sleeping form of Naruto. '*sigh* I really wish I could smoke here'. He looked the two girls in the eye and spoke "What I am about to tell you is considered an S-rank secret punishable by death. You are being told this as you both have found out about him. But I want your word that you will not tell anyone about this."

Hinata and Ino nodded their heads and waited for the Hokage to begin

"Twelve years ago, when the Kyuubi attacked our village…"

* * *

~2 days later~

Naruto felt like his body was made of lead. He felt like he was trampled by both Kurama and Gamabunta and the toad just decided to stay sitting on him. He took a few sniffs and with all the smells of antiseptic and morphine told him that he was in a hospital room. His head was spinning and hazy but he chose to open his eyes slowly only to shut them again from the bright light. He mumbled out "Stupid sun! I'll destroy you one of these days."

"Naruto!/Naruto-kun!"

Naruto's eyes shot open as even though his mind was still hazy he still remembered what happened. He lifted his head to and towards where he heard the voices came from and his eyes grew wider as there in front of him were the two most important people in his life. "Ino-chan? Hinata-chan?..."

Both girls jumped on the bed and hugged him around his neck

Naruto noticed that he could feel his tails and his ears. Looking down he saw the tip of his muzzle and he knew that he was in his fox form. 'They saw me….but why aren't they afraid of me?'

Hinata could feel Naruto tense up and she figured out what he might be tense about "it's ok Naruto-kun. We know."

Naruto felt a smidge of panic as he began to think that they would hurt him but he was shocked when he felt Ino kiss him on his cheek.

"Naruto why didn't you tell me?"

Naruto didn't answer or move but he felt that the two pulled back to look into his eyes. He expected to see anger or fear but all he saw was…..sadness in both of their eyes.

Hinata placed her hand on the left side of his face "Naruto-kun, we aren't afraid of you. We were told about what happened to you and how you become like this."

Naruto looked between the two as his mind was trying to figure out how "but…..how….."

Ino spoke up next "When we found you in the forest after your fight, you fell asleep in our arms before Anko found us and we all took you here. After we put you to bed Hokage-sama came in. he looked like he wasn't expecting us here and after he told us not to tell anyone about this, he told us what happened to you when you were born and how you became like this."

Naruto felt a bit more panic now that he heard that they knew but he calmed down when he didn't feel any fear from them. He spoke softly "and you don't hate me?"

Both girls hugged him again as Ino spoke with tears in her eyes "Baka. I could never hate you. I love you too much to hate you."

Hinata was the same "We both love you Naruto-kun. You have done so much for us and all we have done is hurt you. We can never hate you."

Naruto slowly lifted his paws before he wrapped them up in a hug and enveloped them with his tails as well, which was easy since he was bigger than them. He buried his head into the rook of their necks as tears also came from his eyes. 'They don't hate me….' After a second, a question came to his mind. Lifting his head, he looked at the two "How are you alive?"

Ino bonked him on the head "Baka you saved us." Hinata nodded in agreement with what Ino said

Naruto was confused. He thought back to the fight and he could only remember seeing them being enveloped in sand but then something else came to mind

* * *

_~flashback~_

"_**SAND BURIAL"**_

_Ino and Hinata both closed their eyes as they said what they believe to be their final words. They felt a shift in their position and freedom in their limbs. They looked up to see three Narutos standing at their sides _

"_NNNOOOOOOO__**OOOOOOO"**_

_They all looked to Naruto as he shouted out as a burst of energy came from his body creating gusts of wind which forced them all to use their arms to cover their faces._

_One of the Narutos caught the sight of Sasuke being blown away and jumped up to catch the unconscious Uchiha. Once in his arms, he saw Sakura attached to one of the trees. He landed and looked to the other clone "Sakura-san is on that tree! Get her out of there while we take these three away from this!" he shouted through the heavy winds._

_The second clone nodded and jumped up to remove the sand claw and grab the unconscious pinkette._

_The clone holding Sasuke looked down at both girls and saw that they were wide-eyed at what was going on with the fight. He turned his head to see that the boss was going berserk. He could feel a burning sensation and could tell that he would dispel soon. "INO! HINATA!"_

_Both girls jumped at the shout and turned to look at the clone _

"_We need to leave! This fight is now too much for any of you!"_

_The second clone dropped down with Sakura on his back. "Let's go!"_

_All the clones nodded and the third clone picked up Hinata bridal style. The first clone looked at Ino "Ino! We need to go, can you move?"_

_Ino nodded and got to her feet and they all left as they heard a screeching roar._

_After a minute of tree hopping back to Konoha, Ino looked to the Naruto who had Sasuke over his shoulder. She opened her mouth to say something but was beaten to the punch._

"_I'm glad you two are safe. It's lucky we got here when we did."_

_Hinata looked up to the Naruto who was carrying her as he continued, "It was a good thing boss made us when he did."_

_Hinata spoke up to the Narutos "what do you mean?"_

_The Naruto that was carrying Sakura was the one to answer "Before boss went after you girls, he was fighting in the arena with the proctor. But he knew that he needed to help you out so as he left he made us to help the proctor. Once we got through the enemies we left to go help boss out. It was also a good thing that he made six of us because two of us saved you."_

_The clones thought about when they were heading towards the battle. _

* * *

_They lost one clone during the fight in the arena but they still hoped that they would be enough to help out if the boss was unable to summon clones himself during the fight with Gaara. They moved as fast as they could to where they knew the battle was going. When they could smell they were close they heard something that caused them to worry._

"_**SAND COFFIN!"**_

_They all pushed themselves faster and when they made it to a branch overlooking the fight they all grew wide-eyed at the sight_

"_**SAND BURIAL!"**_

_Without thinking, two of them used the __**Kawarimi**_ _to switch places with the girls just in time as the sand imploded. The remaining three clones gave an extreme sigh of relief knowing that they made it but they saw that the boss didn't know they were safe_

* * *

_After they finished their thought, they all felt a burning in their chest and stopped. They put everyone down as the clutched their chest "damn it!"_

_Hinata and Ino check over their respective clone with Hinata asking "Naruto-kun! Are you ok?"_

_Her clone looked to her and spoke "urgh you need to get back to the village! Argh! Don't worry about boss. He'll be fine but you need to stay away from the fight"_

_After he said that all the clones dispelled _

_Ino and Hinata grew worried as they heard an explosion from the direction of the fight._

_Hinata moved to Sakura and picked her up "let's go Ino-san"_

_Ino looked wide-eyed at Hinata "but we can't just…."_

"_He will be fine."_

"_But how can you…"_

_Hinata turned to look at Ino and the Yamanaka girl could see that she was just as worried as she was "he said not to worry about him and I'm putting my faith in the thought that he will be ok."_

_Ino still wanted to argue but something in her told her that Naruto will come back. She nodded her head and went to pick up Sasuke. Once he was over her shoulder the two girls nodded their heads at each other and began making their way back to Konoha_

* * *

_The two girls had stopped due to seeing a large beam of energy making impact with a large ball of a dark purple chakra ball. The shockwave had thrown them off the branches but luckily they were on the lower branches so all that happened were them tumbling on the ground when they hit it._

_Once Ino got to her feet, panic overtook her and she began making her way back to the fight._

_Hinata saw this and gentle put Sakura against a tree and putting Sasuke on another one before she went after Ino. once she caught up she asked, "Ino-san what are you doing?!"_

_Ino didn't slow down "I can't just leave him alone to fight that sand monster!"_

_Hinata wanted to argue but another explosion was heard and her heart screamed at her to help Naruto out._

_Both girls decided to push themselves faster to help him out._

_When they arrived, they looked down from a branch to see a multi tailed fox talking to the downed redhead. They recognized the voice and they knew who the fox was. When they finished hearing what Naruto said they quietly followed behind. It broke their hearts to see Naruto break down. They looked at each other and nodded as they moved out of the tree lines. They had no fear, no hesitation, they just wanted to help Naruto._

_Hinata was the one to speak up "Naruto-kun?"_

* * *

~Flashback End~

Naruto looked at the two girls in front of him as he remembered what his clones did. Never had he been so happy that he learned that jutsu as he smiled at them "I'm glad you two are ok."

Ino and Hinata smiled at him as they sat in comfortable silence. However, after a few seconds there was a knock at the door which caused them all to look at it.

Naruto was about to **henge **but he caught the scent of a couple of people he knew. He watched as the door opened and in came the Hokage with Kakashi and Tenzo.

Naruto wagged his tails at the sight of the old man and gave a toothy smile "hey Hokage-Jiji!"

Hiruzen was surprised to see that Naruto was talking while as a fox but he chalked it up to something he learned to do. He walked up to Naruto with his escorts staying where they were "it is good to see you awake Naruto-kun. And I see that you have added another tail to your collection."

Naruto tilted his head in confusion before he turned to look behind him and started counting the tails he had. Once he finished he deadpanned "at this rate I might end up with fifty tails by the end of the year."

Hinata suddenly remembered the day she and Iruka went to his apartment 'so that tiny fox from back then was Naruto-kun.'

Hiruzen chuckled when he heard what Naruto said "that would be something to see." he sat down on one of the available chairs and continued in a serious tone "Well it is good that you have awakened now as there is something that I wish for you to be a part of." he watched Naruto looked to him with a serious look which told the old man that he had the boys attention. "In two days there will be a council meeting and I wish for you to be there."

"But why? I've never been to one of those council meetings unless I did something."

Hiruzen smiled at the fox and placed his hand on his head "don't worry Naruto-kun, your not in trouble. I will tell you the details about it later"

Naruto was confused about this but he nodded his head as he trusted the old man. He then looked past Hiruzen and spoke "hey Kakashi-sensei! How are Sakura-san and the teme?"

Kakashi eye smiled as he spoke "they are both fine. An Anbu team found them in the forest and took brought them to this hospital."

Naruto sighed in relief to know that his team was fine.

Tenzo was a little apprehensive at Naruto at the moment since he still remembered the seal on his hand that told him about the tails that Naruto unleashed. He knew that Naruto was still Naruto but it was still unnerving. He mumbled under his breath "I still can't get used to him like this." He then found a pillow on his face

"I heard that!"

Everyone laughed at this small interaction before Hiruzen spoke up again as he brought out a scroll. "Here Naruto-kun, this is a sealed set of your clothes, although it isn't your cloak it is your normal attire."

Naruto nodded as he took the scroll with his paw "that's fine. I already planned on going back to my normal jacket after the exams." he then looked down at himself and realized something. He looked up at Ino and Hinata and the adults could swear that his fur became much darker right then and there. He then grabbed the blanket and covered himself which confused the girls. "Uh ….um could you two please um leave?"

Ino felt insulted at what he said and put her hands on her hips "you don't have to be so rude Naruto! We get it, you have to change clothes."

"It's not that it's um…..that I have to put some clothes on."

Both girls were confused again at what he said and it took them a few seconds before it caught up with them. From all the fighting and explosions, Naruto's original set of clothing were destroyed and even though he is right now a fox, he is by all intents and Naked.

Both girls became completely red as they did what Hinata does. They fainted

* * *

~later, Naruto's mindscape~

Naruto blinked as he looked up at his tou-sama…..or in this case Tou-samaS. He kept looking between the two "sooooo are you my uncle or something?" he asked as he pointed at the darker Kurama (yin-Kurama)

Yin-Kurama shook his head "**No, we are each other's halves."**

Naruto then tilted his head "so I have two Tou-Samas than? huh I didn't know you swung that way."

Yang-Kurama got into Naruto's face "**NO YOU IDIOT! WE USED TO BE ONE BEING THAT WAS SPLIT INTO TWO! WE ARE JUST PLANNING TO BECOME ONE BEAST AGAIN!" **Yang**-**Kurama got back up and was breathing heavily

"But you said that you were each other's halves so wouldn't that mean….

Yin-Kurama looked towards his counterpart "**is he always this idiotic?"**

"Yang-Kurama continued to have a deadpan expression in his face "**you don't know the half of it. I've had to deal with him all this time and he still amazes me at how stupid he can be sometimes."**

"**How bad can he be?"**

"**When the kit was much younger and learning how to walk he….."**

Naruto just sat there with a smirk on his muzzle as he knew he was going to have fun messing with his tou-san about this.

* * *

~2 days later, council room~

The council room was at the moment in an uproar as everyone in the civilian council were shouting, screaming and pointing at Naruto who was sitting in a chair in the center of the room

(Not sure if I said this earlier but to clear up how the council room looks in my head: picture a long curved table, same top as the Hokage desk on the opposite side of Mahogany double doors, which is the entrance of the room. Similar format to the Hokage office. The Hokage sitting center of the table so he is directly opposite the entrance. On his left sit the civilian council and on his right the shinobi council.)

Naruto was at the moment ignoring the civilian's rants as he looked over his arm. 'You know, having my bones replaced with chakra bones really makes shifting much less painful.'

"**Well, now you don't need me to do it for you,"**

'Couldn't we have done something that would have made this happen faster?'

"**HEY! This has never happened before. I was not risking you dying just to remove your bones. For all we know, that would have killed you and you wouldn't have grown those chakra bones."**

'Sorry, Rama-tou-chan. I'm just glad that all I get from shifting now is a feeling of being sore instead of feeling like I was slammed by your tails for over three hours.' Naruto was brought out of his thoughts as he felt something vile enter the room. He turned his head to see Hiruzen and the three elders enter the room.

"Hokage-sama, it's about time we punish the little demon spawn!"

"He is clearly a danger to all of us! We should execute him before he turns against us!"

"We should banish him and have the hunter-nins deal with him!"

Naruto picked his ear with his pinky, not caring about what they say any more since they have been at this kind of shit since he was born.

The Shinobi council were all exasperated at this point as this is all they ever talk about. All of them were still concerned with repair efforts for the village and here the civilians are whining and complaining about Naruto….again.

Hiruzen made his way to his seat with Koharu, Homura standing to his right and Danzo standing to his left. "SILENCE!" everyone went quiet and sat back in their seats as he continued "We are at the moment still recovering from the invasion of both Suna and Oto. Now, I have received a message from the Suna council saying that they were deceived by Orochimaru and they wish to arrange a meeting for a surrender agreement. This will be handled at a later date. Now we have some important business that we need to discuss."

One councilman, a lean man with short black hair and a mustache spoke up "Hokage-sama, why is….._he_ here?" he asked as he sneered at Naruto who had leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms

Hiruzen looked towards Naruto and spoke, "he is here because some of the matters that need to be discussed revolve around Naruto-kun here."

"Will he be banished or executed?" spoke an eager councilwoman. Thinking that they will finally be rid of the demon brat

Hiruzen smirked as he spoke again "On the contrary, he is here to be promoted to Chunin."

The whole civilian side began to protest at this but Hiruzen unleashed his KI to silence them.

"You have no say in any Shinobi matters!"

The way he said this caught the civilians off guard as he said it in an accusatory manner. One of them asked, "what are you implying Hokage-sama?"

"More on that in a bit. Now Naruto-Kun, do you accept this new position?"

Naruto got up from his seat and gave him a thumbs up "you better believe it Dattebayo!"

The shinobi council smiled at the boy, knowing that he deserved this

The civilians were not as happy as they all shouted again and one shouting "he doesn't deserve to be a Chunin!"

Hiruzen frowned as he turned to the man that said this "and why does he not deserve this?"

The man, speaking out of anger (or stupidity) said: "he is nothing but a clanless demon that doesn't deserve to even be a shinobi!"

Hiruzen tilted his head down so his hat covered his eyes "funny you should say this since Naruto actually does indeed belong to a clan. A clan that we shinobi have been honoring for many years now."

"What?!"

"He is part of the nearly extinct Uzumaki clan. A clan whose history should still be taught in the academy"

Some of the civilians started to grow nervous

"However, I have learned that the history of Uzushiogakure has been removed from the curriculum. I found this odd as they had a crucial part in our history. Now I had someone investigate the reason for this and found out something interesting."

Many of the civilians began to sweat as they were afraid that they had been caught

"Apparently many of the instructors, as well as the dean, had been bribed in order to remove it from being taught to the students. I have also found out that it was some on the civilian council that had done it. Now would any of you care to explain why you thought to do this?" Hiruzen sounded calm but everyone could tell that he was furious right now

"Sir it was done because we felt that it was unnecessary for the students to learn about an extinct clan."

"THAT IS NOT FOR YOU TO DECIDE!" everyone in the room felt the KI skyrocket and only the civilians were feeling it's wrath "it is more likely that you removed it since it spoke of the Uzumaki clan which was Naruto-kun's last name and you didn't want him or anyone to think he was part of something important to Konoha. This can be considered an act of sabotaging our shinobi which is punishable by death!"

Homura walked up "Hiruzen, I believe that you are taking this….." he didn't get to finish as he became victim of Hiruzen's KI

"Be silent!" he said in a deadly serious voice

Danzo stepped forward and looked Hiruzen in the eyes "Hiruzen you must calm down. If you act on your emotions you will make rash decisions and do something you might regret."

Naruto felt something extremely foul coming from the man and he heard Kurama speak

"**Kit! That mummy has the feeling of a Sharingan!"**

'What?!'

"**I think he is using it on the old monkey!"**

Naruto didn't need to think and just acted. Pushing chakra into his legs and jumping full speed, he attacked Danzo.

Danzo was more focused on Hiruzen that he was surprised to find himself being pushed against the wall

Naruto gripped on the man's collar and spoke softly "You smell of the Sharingan"

Danzo gripped Naruto's wrist and tossed him off "How dare you attack an elder of this village!"

Hiruzen didn't move "Danzo stand down!"

Danzo turned to Hiruzen "Hiruzen! The complete lack of respect for his superior shows that you are far too soft. None of your shinobi know their place. If you had let me take him he …"

Danzo didn't finish what he was going to say as Hiruzen pulled out a rod from his sleeve and decapitated the man. "I no longer care about what you have to say Danzo because as of right now you are removed from your position."

Everyone was shocked to see what Hiruzen had done but what happened next caused the shinobi side to scowl

The body of Danzo became mud and melted into a puddle.

Hiruzen did not look shocked at this "Run Danzo if you can. For today will be your last day alive."

* * *

~Danzo's hideout~

Danzo's root agents were being annihilated by Hiruzen's Anbu who were swarming the base. Root's number grew smaller and smaller due to the more well trained and more coordinated Anbu.

Danzo was in his office trying to gather everything he could before he escaped.

However, the door to his office was destroyed with a loud "**DYNAMIC ENTRY!"**

Danzo looked up to see three individuals enter his office. Guy, Kakashi, and Jiraiya.

Kakashi walked up to be in front of the other two "Danzo, for conspiring with a known traitor of Konoha, Manipulation of clan matters, kidnapping children for your root and attempted murder on the Hokage, you have been sentenced to death!"

Danzo scowled at the three in front of him "you are all blinded by the old fools dribble of the will of fire. It is thanks to that, that this village has gone soft!"

Guy and Jiraiya walked up to stand next to Kakashi as Kakashi spoke "those will be your last words." he pulled up his hitai-ate to reveal his Sharingan

Jiraiya bit his thumb and slammed it on the ground causing a puff of smoke to appear. Out of the smoke came two small toads that jumped to his shoulders. He used the blood of his thumb to create a pattern on his face and clapped his hands together. He gained toad-like features as the toads on his shoulders melded into him. "SAGE MODE"

Guy removed a pair of weights that he wore on his legs and he unleashed a burst of chakra "Gate of Pain: OPEN!" Guys skin becomes red as his hair began to flow upwards

Danzo felt nervous as he knew for a fact that he was about to fight a battle that he could possibly lose but he would not die here. He has gone too far to back off now. He thought about using the escape passage behind him but he knew that he would not be able to get to it with Guy's speed. He had no choice but to fight. 'DAMN YOU HIRUZEN!'

* * *

~back in the council room~

Hiruzen put the rod away as he got up from his seat "Danzo is now a criminal of Konoha and is being dealt with as we speak. However, he is not the only one guilty here." he turned to face the civilians "You are also guilty for crimes against the shinobi of MY village and the crimes are punishable by death!"

The civilians all began to protest and try to talk their way out of this

Hiruzen snapped his fingers and a group of Anbu appeared behind Homura, Koharu as well as each of the civilian members and subdued them. "Normally I would just have you all executed for treason but I have decided on a different punishment. You all will be sent to the I&T department where Ibiki, Anko, and Inoichi will pick at your brain until they have retrieved everything from you and they will keep going until you are nothing but a drooling, twitching blithering husk on the ground. At that point, you shall be executed without trial. As for you two..." he said as he looked at the remaining elders who were looked pleadingly at him. "Your minds shall be searched and if there is ANY indication that you were part of these treacheries than you shall share their fate. Anbu take them away."

As the civilians were being dragged away they began shouting, trying to get themselves out of this

"What about the civilians of the village. They need us!"

Hiruzen was unfazed by this "All civilian matters shall now be handled by shinobi. As traitors, you have all lost the right to your businesses and properties. And instead of passing on to the next of kin, they shall be handed to those who shall run these businesses fairly. As of today, the Civilian council is permanently disbanded."

The shinobi council watched with some measure of joy as the civilian council disappear from their lives.

Naruto, who was now back in his chair had the biggest smile on his face as he heard a voice in his head 'Finally free.' Naruto nodded in agreement

Hiruzen made his way back to his seat as he coughed in his hand to get everyone's attention. Once he knew he had it he spoke. "I have one more matter I wish to bring up."

Shikaku looked towards the Hokage and asked: "What is it Hokage-sama?"

Hiruzen smiled as he grabbed his hat and took it off "After much thought, I have decided that it is time for me to retire."

* * *

End chapter

**Note**: a guest had brought up the fate of Homura and Koharu and I thought that it would be obvious but apparently not, so I put a line in the council meeting that shows it. ALSO it was explained how Ino and Hinata got out of the sand as it is told during the flashback. Please read it once more and it should be there.

I have been waiting to get to this chapter since the very beginning.

This is what I have wanted to do for a very long time as this was my response to all of the bits of fanon. The civilian council and Danzo have almost always pissed me off and I wanted to do this to them for a long time but I wasn't about to do a 5 chapter story just for that. So this is the end of an era

I wanted a lot of things to be resolved at this point and so they have

Sending Kakashi, Guy, and Jiraiya after Danzo and they each go full force. Is this overkill?…...yes but I like the idea of it

Also for the save of Ino and Hinata. I have technically been foreshadowing this from the very beginning. I mean I did make Naruto a master at the move so yeah.

The next few chapters will be some filler kind of chapters with Naruto. But after all that Naruto went through I think he deserves some normal stuff.

also the bit with the two fathers. I apologize if it came out as offensive

Please read, favorite, follow and review


	35. Death(s) of a Tyrant!

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

**"Demon/Summon speech"**

**'Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts'**

**Jutsu name**

(author comment)

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer: yeah I don't own Naruto

* * *

Chapter 35: Death(s) of a Tyrant!

Danzo cursed as he found himself facing three of Konoha's heaviest hitters... alone. This was because all of his ROOT agents are locked in combat with Hiruzen's ANBU. He thought about using Shisui's Sharingan but dismissed the idea almost immediately, as Kakashi's Sharingan would allow him to see through any Genjutsu, and since Guy is using the Eight Gates, the constant strain on his body and the density of his chakra made him immune. And Jiraiya's sage mode... That was a completely different can of worms. Danzo didn't know how big of a power boost it would grant him, or if he was even protected from Genjutsu when using Senjutsu, he didn't want to reveal his stolen Sharingan eyes unless he had too.

Kakashi, Guy, and Jiraiya all faced Danzo in ready stances, staring him down...

Jiraiya stiffened slightly as he felt something dark and disturbed radiating from Danzo's chakra, focusing on the feeling his eyes narrowed in suspicion and he addressed Kakashi. "Kakashi... Notice anything off about his chakra?"

Kakashi nodded, his Sharingan showing him Danzo's chakra aura. It was normal for the most part, but as it got closer to his right arm it started destabilizing and going from the normal blue to a dark miasma, almost like the chakra pathways had been artificially regrown, then forcefully expanded... Then he noticed the seals inscribed on the bandages. "Yeah... The chakra in his bandaged arm is almost completely uncontrolled... And the bandages themselves are some kind of extensive seal."

Guy steps forward "Regardless, he's a traitor to Konoha! His unyouthful behavior mustn't go unpunished... So allow me to start us off!" Guy moved, there was no other way to describe it... He appeared in front of Danzo before attacking, roaring out the name of his favorite technique. **"Dynamic Entry!"**

Danzo dodged the attack, knowing that trying to block it was plain stupidity... He narrowly ducked under Kakashi's follow up punch, then he jumped away and scowled as he saw that his desk was in splinters and his files were scattered around the room. The seals on his bandages made them transparent to him, allowing him to track them with the stolen Sharingan in his skull. With it, he could see that they were aiming to kill him as quickly as possible. He was brought out of his analysis when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head to see Jiraiya coming at him with a powerful right hook. He was able to dodge the strike but as he brought up his hand to strike back at the Sannin, he felt something strike him in the side of the face with tremendous force. He was sent flying into the wall and impacted hard enough to create a webbing of cracks on the impact area. He dropped to the ground and glared at the Sannin. 'What hit me? I know for a fact that I dodged his strike and he didn't use any wind jutsu…' He had to jump again to dodge as Kakashi finished his hand seals, launching a Gokakyu no Jutsu at him... While in the air he was forced to block a punch from Guy, channeling most of his chakra to his arms to keep them from shattering under the force... Even still, he could feel his bones shaking under the strain. He scowled as he realized just how much better they were than him, grimacing at the pain that came from blocking Guy's strike. If things kept up like this he would have to sacrifice one of the Sharingan in his arm...

He didn't notice it yet, but several of the eyes in his arm had simply been popped like grapes from the force of Guy's punch.

Jiraya used this time to quickly form a Rasengan, then he began powering it with more chakra until it swelled in size... He lunged at Danzo and reached him just as he slammed into the wall, thrusting his attack forward and calling out its name. "Odama Rasengan!" The attack began grinding into Danzo's body, quickly pulverizing it. Jiraiya quickly dispelled the rasengan, Danzo's body was nothing but a red smear and a collection of gore in the crater on the wall. He jumped back to stand with Kakashi and Guy, feeling weary still. "...This was far too easy." He declared with finality.

Kakashi nodded his head as he used his Sharingan to scan the room. He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, just the remains of the desk and a few scattered papers... His eyes once again landed on the smear of gore in the wall that was once Danzo and his Sharingan noticed a chakra distortion... It was like looking at a genjutsu. His eyes widened and he lunged at Guy, throwing both of them out of the way.

Jiraiya had sensed an incoming attack and jumped into the air in time to see a blade of wind chakra cut the area they just stood at.

Pa (Fukasaku) grew confused as he saw the one that they had just defeated come back without a scratch on him "Jiraiya-boy, are you sure that you hit him straight on?"

Jiraiya watched Danzo pull out a kunai and blow wind natured chakra on it, coating it in a blade of wind as long as a katana. "I know for a fact that I hit him... I sensed him die, Pa."

Ma (Shima) looked to the two "Maybe it was a powerful Genjutsu...?"

The sage shook his head "No... I don't think so. You know as well as I do that in sage mode, genjutsu is near impossible to use on us. Our senjutsu negates it... Unless it was powered by another sage, or by purely Yin natured chakra it wouldn't get through." He joined up with Kakashi and Guy as they stood at the ready. "Kakashi, did you manage to get anything with your Sharingan?"

Kakashi nodded "Yeah. The chakra around his arm was flaring wildly, it's only just starting to settle... Not only that, but the amount of chakra in his arm was drastically reduced. Whatever he did, he used his arm to do it."

Guy nodded his head as he got ready to fight but was stopped by Jiraiya raising a hand "What is it Jiraiya-sama?"

Jiraiya stared at the old mummy with a gleam in his eyes. "I want you two to hold off for a minute…"

Kakashi and Guy shared a look before shooting Jiraiya a questioning glance.

Jiraiya barely turned his head, whispering while barely moving his lips. "Kakashi I want you to figure out what he's doing with that eye of yours... Guy, I want you to jump in as soon as he figures it out."

They both nodded at this, standing at the ready.

Jiraiya quickly turned and launched himself at Danzo.

Danzo scowled, feeling unsure of himself for the first time in a long time. 'What are they planning?' His eyes widened when Jiraiya lunged for him, Kakashi and Guy staying behind. He still hadn't figured out what it was that the white-haired man did earlier but he refused to underestimate him. Focusing on using his Sharingan he began to battle the man. As he swiped at him, he kept his eye on the man's hands to make sure he wasn't doing any hand signs. While dodging a kick aimed at his head, he was relieved when he felt nothing but air whooshing past him. He brought up his wind blade and slashed at the man again.

Jiraiya ducked under the attack just in time and attempted to uppercut Danzo but he missed the man by a good margin. This dance continued with both dodging each other's attacks until he saw Kakashi motioning for him to return. Landing on both his hands, he mule kicked the man, not holding back and pushed Danzo away. Landing next to Kakashi he looked to the man "Well, figure something out?"

"He seems to be dodging you extremely well…"

Jiraiya grimaced at this a bit "Yeah, I noticed... Neither of us can hit the other."

Kakashi nodded "Yeah but the way you two are doing it is different. You do it at the last second, and you have the reflexes and speed to avoid getting hit. But with him, he tenses up long before you move to attack, almost like he can see what your about to do next. Much like…." Kakashi paled as he placed two fingers under his Sharingan eye.

Both Guy and Jiraiya's eyes widened as they came to the same conclusion.

Guy looked to Danzo, shock in his eyes. "Kakashi, are you saying what I think you're saying...?"

Kakashi nodded "Yes, I am... Danzo has a Sharingan eye!"

This troubling new information presented the three men with more questions than before, but the foremost on each of their minds... 'How did he get a Sharingan!?'

Jiraiya's mind was going a mile a minute. 'He couldn't have gotten a Sharingan recently, because the only living Sharingan users are Sasuke Uchiha and his brother Itachi... So it must be from before the massacre! The Uchiha were extremely prideful, though and if he had stolen it, then he would have been killed in short order. Kakashi got his Sharingan from a friend as a gift, and they hated him for it, even if they never acted against him... Danzo was no friend to the Uchiha, though so that can't be how he got it- He was the most adamant about dealing with the Uchiha, too... No, he didn't! He wouldn't... This is Danzo, of course, he would! He got it from one of the bodies after the massacre! With that Sharingan... How many times has he manipulated the council?. How many have fallen under his Genjutsu? Is this how he keeps getting recruits for his ROOT program!? He might even have some of the eyes stored away somewhere…' he was brought out of his thoughts as Kakashi spoke up.

"His entire arm has the same chakra flow as his eye...!" Kakashi came up with the same conclusion as Jiraiya but after he realized that Danzo had an implanted eye he looked at the man's chakra. And noticed that the chakra was focused mostly on his eye area and arm.

The three men and two toads didn't know what this could mean but they knew now that they needed to take that arm out of the equation.

Guy once again stepped forward "Alright! No more holding back!" even though Guy had unleashed the gate of pain he was holding back as much as he could to see if they could get anything out of the man... But now...? Now it was time to end this tyrant! Tensing his legs, he lunged forward so fast and hard that the ground shattered, massive chunks of it shooting upwards.

Danzo's eyes widened as he could barely track the punch aimed at him. He wasn't fast enough to dodge the attack and felt a fist hit him in the stomach hard enough that most of his ribs were shattered. The blow instantly liquified most of his internal organs and his heart could not take the force as it exploded inside his chest. He puked up nearly a full gallon of his blood as he activated Izanagi.

Kakashi kept his eye on the man and noticed the chakra around the arm fluctuate for a second before dying down a bit. He saw another distortion in the air and reacted. He lunged forward and grabbed the kunai that Danzo dropped when he was punched and ran to the distortion. Once he was close he saw that for some reason Danzo was reforming in it. He pulled back the hand with the kunai and channeled his lightning chakra through it much in the same manner as Danzo did with his wind chakra. Using his Sharingan he saw the arm he was aiming for beginning to form and using all his speed swiped at the shoulder, severing the arm in a spray of blood.

Danzo was aiming to kill Guy as he reappeared, but he knew he was going to fail as soon as he saw Kakashi aiming for his arm with the Raiton infused kunai... his Sharingan arm. He tried to think of what to do but in his position in the air behind Guy, he was unable to move much. His chakra wasn't stable yet and he could only use a bit of wind chakra to push himself a bit but it wasn't enough. He felt his arm being cut above his elbow. He would have used Izanagi to return to perfect health, but he soon noticed an orange glow. He looked over Guy to see Jiraiya finishing hand seals in synch with Ma and Pa.

"Fire Style: TOAD FLAME BOMB!"

Ma and Pa had spat out a stream of oil and Jiraiya sent out a ball of fire, igniting the oil and making it spread wider from the force being exerted on it.

Guy used his speed to grab Kakashi and move out of the way of the blast of fire.

Danzo was hit full force by the blast and was pushed back into the wall. The flames broke his concentration and he was unable to activate the Izanagi and unfortunately for him, he wasn't killed from the blast so Izanagi would not activate automatically.

Guy and Kakashi landed on the ground and stood back up.

Jiraiya landed next to the two and looked at Kakashi... Or rather, he looked at the arm in his hand "Kakashi... why did you cut Danzo's arm off?"

Kakashi brought up the portion of the arm that he cut off "Just a hunch..." He began to unwrap the bandaged arm and all three of the men were shocked to see what it was. The portion of the arm they had was implanted with several Sharingan eyes. Two of them were closed but they figured that they were Sharingan eyes as well. Three of them looked to have burst and figured that it was from when Danzo blocked Guy's punch, one of them was in half from the cut Kakashi did and there were two that remained intact. They heard a groan from the now burnt man and they looked to see him slumped against the wall.

Danzo was in pain. Not only had he lost a lot of his chakra due to using the Izanagi a few times, but he also lost his trump card while returning to the land of the living and he was blasted by an extremely powerful fire jutsu that had cauterized his now severed arm. His entire body was barely able to move as nothing was spared. He felt the bandages that he had around his right eye burn away and he was left exposed and vulnerable.

Jiraiya noticed the now unbandaged eye and saw the man slowly open it. It confirmed what they all believed and this just made Jiraiya grit his teeth. Although he had no proof of this, he knew that the war hawk had used that Sharingan to persuade some on the council for his own gain. Walking up to the man, he knelt down and without saying anything he quickly jabbed his fingers around the eye. He was not a cruel man by any means and he took no pleasure in causing others to suffer but the man in front of him was no man, he was a monster. Applying what little medical jutsu he knew into his fingers, he plucked the eye out of Danzo. He then noticed that there were still a couple of Sharingan eyes in the remaining arm Danzo had and with quick movements he destroyed the remaining eyes. Getting up he took a step back and sneered at the now dying man.

"What did you hope to gain from turning the village into your little plaything? Did you expect to rule the rest of the villages using all of the shinobi as puppets? Well, guess what! No shinobi in this village would follow you. Even if you did become the Hokage, a lot of us would have abandoned this village. We don't follow the Hokage just because the Daimyo elects someone, we follow the Hokage because we believe in him. Your belief that a shinobi doesn't need emotions has led to all your top ROOT agents to die by the hands of the very type of shinobi you despise."

Danzo... hated this man, and the lesson he had gone with. He hated Sarutobi for making someone with a bleeding heart as strong as this...! He knew he was beaten, but he would be damned if he let someone like this continue to live in the Shinobi world! He channeled every ounce of his chakra into the seal that he had on his chest. He may die but he was sure as hell going to take Jiraiya with him!

Kakashi had noticed the chakra pooling around Danzo's chest and called out "Jiraiya-sama, watch out!"

"DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!" Danzo roared.

Jiraiya had seen the seal light up on Danzo's chest and paled when he recognized it. "Shit! RUN!"

Guy and Kakashi jumped away and into the hallway, they came from to get away from whatever jutsu was coming...

Guy turned his head and caught something in his hand. He watched as the entire room seemed to implode, and after a few seconds, a large chunk of the room just seemed to be... gone. The room had become a dome-like area. "Jiraiya-sama!" The white-haired man was nowhere to be seen in the room and he, like Kakashi, feared the worst... After a minute he looked down to see what he had caught. It was one of the toads. Shima or Ma if he was right.

Ma hopped out of Guy's hand "oh don't worry about those two. They're fine." She ran through the hand signs for the reverse-summon technique and then slapped her hand on the ground, a large poof of smoke came from the ground, typical of a summoning. Out of the smoke came Jiraiya and Pa.

Jiraiya felt like this was the best time to do a dramatic re-entrance. "Never fear! The gallant and powerful sage of Mount…"

*SLAP*

Jiraiya was now eating the ground thanks to Ma pulling out a large paper fan and slapping the man on the head.

"Don't you know how rude it is to throw a lady like that!?"

*SLAP SLAP SLAP SLAP SLAP SLAP SLAP*

Jiraiya soon found himself on the ground with all his senjutsu slapped out of him.

Pa had jumped off Jiraiya's shoulder and watched the whole thing.

Kakashi looked to Pa and Ma until he got what had happened "So... you reversed summoned him."

Pa didn't look away from the sage as he nodded. "That's right. I reversed summoned him to mount Myoboku and he threw Ma to you two in order for him to be summoned back here. It was a last-second move but thankfully Jiraiya-boy came up with it quick."

Kakashi nodded and sighed in relief as he lowered his headband to cover his eye. He looked at the arm that was still in his other hand before shrugging and sealing it in a scroll.

* * *

~council room~

Shikaku looked to the Hokage, wide-eyed, after hearing what he said "Hokage-sama, why would you feel like you should retire?"

Hiruzen chuckled at the question "Shikaku-san, I'm old, and I've spent a great deal of time as the leader of this village... I want to spend my remaining days in retirement."

Naruto was shocked to complete silence. So much so that everyone had forgotten he was in the room. He shook his head to reboot his brain "H-hey Jiji! If.. if you're going to retire than who will be the next Hokage?"

Everyone, but the Hokage, were a bit startled at hearing Naruto's voice. They all turned to him and felt a bit sheepish at forgetting the boy was there.

Hiruzen chuckled at his shinobi's reaction "I have yet to think of my successor Naruto-kun but when we announce it I'll be sure to let you know. For now, however, you're dismissed."

Naruto nodded "Alright! I'm gonna go home and sleep in an actual bed, then. Sleeping in a hospital bed and then going straight to the Hokage's office is not how I thought I would be spending my time today."

Hiruzen smiled at the retreating boy. He remembered the items that he knew he had to give him but he felt that it can wait until all these things are settled. Looking back to the council he spoke "I'll be sending a message to the Daimyo so we can discuss who my successor should be. But for now, you should all go home and continue to repair the damage to your compounds."

And with that, they all left with bigger smiles on their faces.

* * *

End of chapter

Now I want a big round of applause to my new Beta-reader: Irusha the Kitsune.

I swear this chapter had been a nightmare for me. I started this a month ago and wrote the first paragraph but then *raspberry* nothing. My hands hovered over the keyboard trying to think of what to write next but nope it just wouldn't come out... The fight just wouldn't come out!

About the fight. Jiraiya chose not to use the senjutsu invisible strike on Danzo to figure out what was going on with the man. Kakashi is the best one to watch the fight and figure it out.

I'm basing Danzo's skill based on what was seen in the anime fight with Sasuke and him. I'm also basing it on who fought who and although Danzo fought Sasuke, I don't think that he would be a match for someone who fought Pain…

I did some research about Danzo's arm and found out that the Izanagi only has a 1-minute timeframe and then the eye goes blind. That's why Danzo has multiple eyes in the arm, so he could use it multiple times. I also found out that he has ten eyes in the arm.

Now I have no clue if I am going to do anything with the eyes. Heck, I might just destroy them since I don't really plan on giving Naruto the Sharingan, which should be obvious since his dad despises the eyes.

Also, I had planned on skipping the fight and just insinuate that Danzo was dead but a few of you reviewed that you were looking forward to it and I couldn't bring myself to continue without doing it.

I am most likely going to come back to this fight and add more since this seemed short but I need to get this chapter out of my hands...

The next chapter will most likely be a filler chapter before we get back to the main story.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and look forward to the next!

Please read, favorite, follow, and review!


	36. Decisions to make

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

(author comment)

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Before we start I just want to let everyone know that Naruto from this point on is wearing his normal jacket. Not the jumpsuit but the first outfit I gave him. His long cloak will make an appearance later on in the story

* * *

Chapter 36: Decisions to make

Naruto stood there with his arms crossed and tilting his head. He made his way to his apartment after the meeting with the Hokage and was looking forward to taking a nap in his pile of pillows but here he was standing in the streets looking at the pile of rubble that was once his apartment building. He didn't know how to feel about this. On one hand, he lost what he had called home for most of his life but on the other hand, he didn't really lose anything of real importance. Well apart from his pillows and plants. "Damn, I really liked that pillow." he sighed as he looked up in thought "now what do I do. I guess I could head to the forest and live there." he began to walk away with his arms behind his head and continued to think to himself.

As he was walking, a few people saw him and realized that he wasn't paying attention. They began to whisper amongst themselves

"Hey, it's the demon brat."

"His lair is no longer there to save him."

"He isn't paying attention. We should kill him now that we have the chance."

Soon a group of people began to slowly follow him

Nauto was still thinking to himself 'hmm what are the pros of living in the forest. I don't have to pay rent, I can be in my fox form more, it doesn't smell as bad as it does in the streets, I can hunt down rabbits for dinner.' he continued to walk without realizing the growing group and made his way to an alleyway. 'But what are the cons… it will be harder to get ramen…...damn I don't know if I can live if I don't get ramen.'

The following mob saw him turn a corner and they chose to attack him when they catch up. As they turned they didn't notice a few pieces of paper on the walls and when they turned the corner an explosion was heard.

Leaning against the wall a bit further away from the corner was Naruto as he looked smug at what just happened.

The mob found themselves glued to the walls by a light brown gooey substance and they couldn't move.

Naruto pulled out a slip of paper as he spoke "don't you guys have anything better to do than suffer my wrath." he looked to the paper in his hand "sticky bombs. My own creation that I made when Ero-Senin taught me about seals. Turns out I'm pretty good at them. Be glad that they were explosive tags….those would have hurt." he began to walk away but he heard muffled screams and thought to himself "hmm they don't need to breathe right?"

The ones stuck to the walls began to panic when they heard what the boy said. Many of them had the sticky substance covering their mouth and nose making it extremely hard to breathe. A few of them were even becoming light-headed and some were becoming a bit blue.

After a few seconds of letting them panic, Naruto channeled some wind chakra and as carefully as he could, send a small blade of wind to cut the goo that was over their mouths. He did miss a few causing them to have a cut on their lips but at least they could breathe. He looked back to the people "look just leave me alone. All you guys have ever done is attack me just or walking around and I haven't done anything to you people to be hated so much. AND BEFORE YOU START THAT SHIT ABOUT ME KILLING YOUR FAMILY OR FRIENDS TWELVE YEARS AGO….." this silenced a few of the ones that were about to say something "I was born twelve years ago. I am not the damn Kyuubi that attacked you at that time." 'I only have six tails, not nine' "I was just born on that day and Tou….it was sealed in me to prevent it from attacking the village. So get your heads out of your ass and start thinking." with that he left the alley

"**Nice way of handling them kit."**

'Thanks, Rama-tou-san.'

"**But you will be punished later for calling me the 'damn' Kyuubi'**

'...damn it'

Naruto continued down the street still in thought until

"Naruto-san!"

Naruto looked over his shoulder to see who called him. He smiled when he saw who it was "Karin-chan!."

As Karin got closed she hit him on top of his head. It was so unexpected that Naruto fell to the ground

Naruto was holding his head in pain "ow! Karin-chan what was that for?"

Karin adjusted her glasses as she looked down on the clansman "that was because you didn't tell me you left the hospital. I couldn't go see you for whatever reason and when I could finally visit, you just up and disappear!"

Naruto got back up and was rubbing his head "sorry about that. The moment I could leave I was told to go to a meeting by the Hokage." he finished rubbing his head before looking to Karin "by the way what are you doing here Karin-chan? I thought you would have been on your way back to your village."

Karin huffed ash she moved the hair that was covering her hitai-ate.

Naruto's eyes widened when he saw that she was now wearing the symbol of his village "wait, what?"

"I joined your village. My last remaining clansman lives here so why wouldn't I." 'besides, my village can go to hell for what they did to my mother and me.'

Naruto gained a wide smile at this "that's so cool but where are you going to stay? I doubt you have a place to live yet."

Karin just waved her hand dismissively "I got a room at one of the inns and I plan on doing some low-rank missions to get some money. Once I have enough, I can get an apartment."

Naruto crossed his arms as he spoke "so we are both in the same situation." 'though I'm going to be living in the forest so I won't really need money for the time being

"Wait why?"

Naruto pointed in the direction of where his apartment used to be "my apartment was destroyed during the invasion. I plan on living somewhere else until I choose to get another one."

Karin looked apologetically at Naruto "sorry to hear that."

Naruto shoved his hands in his jacket pocket and shrugged his shoulders "eh, I didn't have much in it so I didn't lose anything. Anyway, wanna go get some lunch? I know a ramen shop that we can go to."

Karin's stomach chose to respond to Naruto's question, causing her to blush "heh he sure."

"Great! Afterward, we can go see bushy brows."

"'Bushy Brow'?

"It's my nickname for Lee!"

* * *

~Hokage Office~

Hiruzen was sitting in his office glaring at the item in front of him.

Kakashi, Guy, and Jiraiya had given their report on the battle with them and Danzo before showing the Hokage the arm

Hiruzen took a deep breath as he pulled out his pipe and began to smoke. He was thankful that Naruto wasn't there at the moment' "I should have known that he would have gone and done something this depraved."

Kakashi looked to the arm "what should we do with this thing?"

Hiruzen took a long breath of his pipe "I want this thing analyzed. Based on the coloration of this, it is obviously not Danzo's original arm so I want everything about it examined. I shall have to think of what to do with it once it is all done. But for now, we shall seal this thing away."

They all nodded his head and Guy spoke up "should we inform the young Uchiha about this?"

This got everyone's attention and Hiruzen paused in his thoughts. He leaned back in his seat and began to think on this "hmm it is his right to know about this but I must consult with someone else before I inform Sasuke-Kun about this."

Everyone nodded and Jiraiya sealed the arm up and handed the scroll to the Hokage

Once Hiruzen put the scroll away he looked to Jiraiya "I am going to need you to stay in the village for a good while Jiraiya-Kun. I will be heading to the capital in a few days. It is time to discuss my next successor."

They were all a little shocked as this was the first time he heard of this but they schooled their features.

Jiraya was the one to ask "do you have someone in mind for who will be the next Hokage?"

Hiruzen leaned back and smiled

* * *

~days later, fire capital~

"Are you sure that you want to retire Hiruzen? Konoha has done well with you leading it."

Hiruzen took a smiled as he heard the Fire Daimyo say this "as much as your praise means to me. I feel that I have given enough of my time in leading the village. It needs someone else to take up the mantle."

The fire Daimyo, although a little laid back in personality, understood the underlining meaning of what Hiruzen said: I am old and I no longer think I can continue on. He fanned himself as he nodded his head "well who do you have for a recommendation." he looked to the one standing by Hiruzen "will you be the one that succeeds Hiruzen, Jiraiya?"

Jiraiya shook his head as he spoke "I have no desire to become Hokage. I have my spy network to handle and I don't think I would do a good enough job anyway."

The shinobi council who were sitting at the long table with them were all secretly glad that Jiraiya would not be Hokage, especially Tsume, who felt that she would kill the man herself if he tried to pass a law that allows peeping.

The Fire Daimyo tilted his head "than who is it you want to become the fifth Hokage?"

Jiraiya internally smiled as he heard Hiruzen give out who they chose

"I believe that Tsunade Senju would be a suitable candidate for it."

"Oh ho Tsunade eh. She was one of your students along with Jiraiya-san, right?"

Hiruzen nodded "yes. Out of the three of my students, she is the most sensible and level headed out of the three."

Jiraiya slumped to the floor and began drawing circles on the ground

Everyone chose to ignore the man

"Will she be willing to do it? I have heard that she had been dealing with problems of her own."

Hiruzen smiled "I will be sending a couple of people that I believe will be able to convince her to take up the job."

The Daimyo nodded as he looked to everyone at the table "do any of you have anyone else that you would like to recommend for the seat? Or do you all agree with what Hiruzen-san has decided?"

Everyone looked to each other as if in a silent conversation until they all nodded.

Shikaku rose from his seat and spoke in a respectable tone "I believe I speak for the rest of the clan heads when I say that we all agree with the decision Hokage-sama has given."

The daimyo nodded and grabbed his gavel and spoke "very well. It is decided that Tsunade Senju shall be the fifth Hokage!" and with that, he slammed it down

Hiruzen looked to Jiraiya "once you find him, you are to depart immediately."

Jiraiya nodded with a smirk on his face "no problem. It shouldn't take long once we get back."

* * *

~next day, Konoha~

"Where the hell is that gaki?!" Jiraiya had spent most of his time trying to find Naruto but so far he has had no luck. He and the others had arrived back in the village early in the morning and right now it was five in the afternoon. When he found the destroyed rubble of Naruto's apartment, he began looking in the usual spots he would find Naruto but so far nothing. He even tried to hot springs and spent a good amount of time looking around that area, specifically around the fence. Now here he was, with a black eye, a bleeding lip and a welt on his head, looking down at the streets to see if he could find any sign of spiky blond hair."

"Come on Ino-chan! Can't we just have Ichiraku?"

Jiraiya looked down to the left when he heard the familiar voice. He saw Naruto being dragged by the back of his jacket by who he could tell was a Yamanaka

"Naruto, when was the last time you ate something that was ramen?"

"Uh I had a rabbit last night…..:

Ino stopped and brought Naruto forward so she could look him in the eye "Naruto, we are going to my favorite restaurant and you are paying. We haven't talked to each other for a long time so we are catching up. Besides this is punishment for not telling me that your apartment was destroyed and you were living in the forest! I was worried about you since I came over and saw what happened to it so you are paying me back this way…...or I could make myself a fox tail scarf."

Naruto quickly put his hands over his tailbone where his tails, theoretically, were "you wouldn't!"

Ino smirked at Naruto "I have a dress that would look good with one and you have five more to spare."

Naruto cried in defeat for a second before it turned into a wide smile "I missed you Ino-chan." He had missed the small bit of banter they exchanged, he missed hanging out with her and he hated the time he spent avoiding her.

Ino smiled back as she, on impulse, placed a small kiss on his cheek "I missed you too, Baka." she let go of his jacket and began walking again as she spoke softly "and…. We need to talk about …..what we are going to do…..about you, me and Hinata."

Naruto stood there dumbfounded with his hand on his cheek until he heard what Ino said. He looked down a bit as he nodded his head "...yeah…"

Jiraiya was writing down notes so fast that he could have made a new fire Jutsu. 'The kid has TWO girls after him! I'm so jealous!" he was so lost in his perversion that it didn't even register that she commented on his tails. "I need to get the detai….no I mean tell him how to plea …..NO I mean use him for my next boo…...NO! I….I- I need to get him to join me on this mission. Yeah, that's it.' As Jiraya began to leave, he felt light-headed and his complexion became white. After he took a few steps, he fell forward and landed in a large puddle of blood and a small trickle of it was seen coming out of his nose. He laid there unconscious with a stupid perverted grin on his face

As Naruto walked with Ino, his nose picked up the smell of blood and it came with another scent that was familiar but his mind was telling him to just ignore it so he did.

* * *

~later~

Naruto now held his little fox wallet and cried at how empty it was. He knew that he would be paying for not only the meal but also, desert and a sudden shopping spree that she wanted to go on. He actually thought this would happen and he brought extra money for it but she apparently didn't want to stop until he was now broke. "I guess I'm going to need a few more missions to do before I fill you up again."

"Hey, Gaki."

Naruto looked behind him to see Jiraiya wiping off what smelled like blood from his face and nose. "Hey, Ero-Senin. Did you get beat up by women again or did you find something to perv over?" he asked as he crossed his arms and gave a deadpan expression

Jiraiya just sagged a bit as he mumbled: "no respect" he stood up straight again and looked to Naruto "nevermind that, we have a mission."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow "a mission? What mission?"

"We are going to get the next Hokage."

Naruto's eyes widened at this "they already chose who it is?! Who is it?!"

Jiraiya smirked, "ah ah ah you'll find out when we find the person."

"Oh come on! I'm helping you with this so at least tell me who!"

Jiraiya started to walk away "nope. Now go pack for a month's journey."

Naruto put his hand in his jacket and fount some of the scrolls that had his basic equipment. 'I don't really need anything else…...not like I have anything' He ran up to Jiraiya and began walking alongside him.

Jiraiya looked down at Naruto "uh aren't you going to go get your stuff?"

Naruto just put his arms behind his head "I don't have anything other than the set of clothes I have right now."

Jiraiya began to look sheepish "oh right, your apartment." 'damn now I can't go do my research here'

"Yeup! So you going to help me train while we go."

Jiraiya put his hand on his chin in thought as he thought about what he could help Narut with. 'Hmm I think I'll hold off on sage training, It's too early for that. I could teach him the frog kata, might as well give him the fighting style best used for the sage mode, even if he won't get to that yet. Oh, I know!' "hang on gaki. I need to head to the store for a minute wait for me at the gate."

Before Naruto could say anything Jiraiya left in a swirl of leaves. Naruto glared at the spot Jiraiya was standing at before he began marching to the gate "if I find out that he is peeping right now, I'm going to make his life miserable."

* * *

~main gate~

Naruto was talking to the eternal chunin duo as he waited for Ero-Senin

"Wait, wait, that was you?! You were the that painted the Hyugas hair different colors?!" Izuma exclaimed as he heard Naruto brag about his pranks.

Naruto gave a cheeky grin "yep. Took me most of the night to get all the shampoo bottles but I got them."

Kotetsu smirked at this "and I guess you are the one that forced them to wear those ridiculous outfits."

"Yep."

"How the hell did you do that?"

"I am a master of pranks."

Both Izumo and Kotetsu shivered when they saw Naruto give an evil grin

Suddenly Naruto perked up when he caught Jiraiya's scent. "Bout time he got here"

Jiraiya came walking up to them as he held something in his hands "sorry it took me a bit but I got what I needed." he then tossed a water balloon to Naruto who caught it.

Naruto was confused about what he was supposed to do with it

Jiraya caught on to the confusion and held out his hand "I'm going to teach you, your legacy."

Naruto was in aw when he saw an orb of chakra form in ero-senin's hand

"I'm going to teach you the **Rasengan"**

* * *

End of chapter

I realize that now that the previous drama has been settled. My chapters got shorter.

Not a lot happened in this chapter. Naruto is living in the forest for the time being, Karin will now be living in Konoha. Ino and Naruto are back on friendly terms…..

Ps Jiraiya is a super pervert

Now I have a few things that I would like you readers to help decide

Should Sasuke be informed about the arm? Realize that this means he would be told everything and it will affect how things go later on, specifically the fight you all know about. Whether it happens or not

Who gets their moment with Naruto first. Hinata or Ino. I don't know how far I will go with it but who you decide will be the first one

Should Naruto get another summons? I remember in the anime that Sasuke has hawk summons and the snake summons. So I figured why shouldn't Naruto get two. So if you guys want him to have another summon what should it be and maybe give me a solid reason

Please read, favorite, follow, and review


	37. Another Uchiha

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech**"

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts**'

**Jutsu name**

(author comment)

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

Chapter 37: Another Uchiha

Naruto and Jiraiya were right now walking down the road away from the gates of Konoha.

Jiraiya was feeling a bit of drain from his chakra reserves as he had kept the **Rasengan,** he made earlier, active. The reason for doing this was because Naruto was still gazing at it. "Are you done looking at it in aw?"

Naruto shook his head and looked up to Jiraiya "so what is it exactly?"

"The Rasengan is chakra given physical form. It is chakra rotating at high speeds and is extremely powerful."

Although Naruto was listening, his mind only caught the first part. He thought about what he heard and said "sooooo it's like me and Ra...the Kyuubi without a mind."

Jiraiya was extremely confused at what was said until he thought about what Naruto was now. He said that the **Rasengan** is chakra given physical form. Naruto and the Kyuubi are basically chakra given physical form and a mind. "Uuuuhhhh in a sort of way I guess." he then shook his head at the level of stupid he has to go through "forget that. I'm going to teach you how to do this. In a way, you could call this a legacy that will pass to you from your father and the Kyuubi. When Minato made this jutsu, he based it off the **bijuu-dama**."

"The what?"

Now Jiraiya was confused again 'does he not remember when he does it?' "it's a move that all the bijuu know."

Naruto tried to think of what it could be but he came up with nothing 'hey Rama-tou-chan, how come you never taught me this?'

"**Because you are not ready for it. It is far too powerful and you wouldn't be able to handle the weight of the attack." **

'Aw come on!'

"**No!" **

Jiraiya noticed the far off look Naruto had and he remembered the last time he saw it. "Um, are you ok in learning this?"

Naruto shook his head and looked at Jiraiya "oh um yeah. He didn't say anything about learning this jutsu."

"Hmm, at least he isn't giving you grief with what I'm teaching you this time."

Naruto winced when he thought about what happened when he was being taught by Jiraiya last time.

* * *

_~Flashback~_

_Naruto was sitting in front of Jiraiya as the man held out a massive scroll._

_Jiraiya opened it up in front of him and smiled. "this is the toad summoning contract. If you sign your name on it with your blood, you will be able to summon toads to help you in fights."_

"_Cool! And you said my dad was the previous summoner?"_

"_Well, his name is right there."_

_Naruto looked to the names and saw his father's name: Minato Namikaze. In excitement, he bit his thumb and brought his hand to sign but just before it touched he was frozen. He tried to move his hand but it just didn't move. After a few more futile tries he pulled back and grumbled: "hang on Ero-Senin, I need to talk to someone."_

_Jiraiya was confused when he saw Naruto freeze and now he was just plain dumbstruck when he saw Naruto sit there with his arms crossed and a far off look in his eyes. "Is he talking to the Kyuubi?"_

* * *

_~Naruto's mindscape~_

"_**You are not allowed!" **_

"_But tou-chan…...!"_

"_**No, I will not allow you to sign that stupid contract." **_

"_But why?"_

"_**I HATE TOADS! Why don't you find another contract? One that isn't toads!" **_

"_Like what? Is there a fox contract somewhere out there that I have to search for?"_

_Kurama just looked away and crossed his arms _"_**maybe…." **_

_Naruto slammed his tails into the ground "YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW IF THERE IS ONE! Why can't I just sign this toad contract like my dad and find another one that you like!?"_

_Kurama grumbled a bit. He hated toads. There wasn't really anything specific about it he just hated them. Not to mention that the boss toad had fought him when he was released from Kushina_ "_**fine but I will choose what the second contract will be!" **_

_Naruto grumbled at how ridiculous his father was acting but nodded his head "fine"_

_End of flashback_

* * *

In the end, he was able to sign the contract but Rama-tou-san never let him hear the end of it. The entire month was spent training, sleeping and hearing the complaints of the nine-tailed whiner. He shook his head of the memory and looked to Jiraiya "so how do I learn it?"

Jiraiya smiled "well there are three steps on how to learn it….."

Before Jiraiya could continue, Naruto suddenly felt a sense of unease. He felt like he had forgotten something very important. Then it hit him. He quickly created a shadow clone and without telling it anything, it ran back to the village.

"What was that about?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head "I forgot to tell a couple of people that I wouldn't be in the village for a while."

Jiraiya got a perverted grin on his face "oh are they perhaps your lady friends?" he soon found himself with Naruto's foot in his face

* * *

~Konoha a few days later, Hokage office~

Hiruzen was at the moment doing his least favorite past time: paperwork (I'm starting to hate that word from reading it so many times). He was reading a report about some of the ROOT agents that were captured and some of the ones that had escaped. He did not worry about the so-called escapees since he had sent out some of his Anbu to capture or kill them and each one was successful. He knew that after this came the civilian reports, then he had to look over the treaty that he and the Mizukage had agreed on as well as make an appointment with her so they could possibly finalize the alliance. Not only that, he had to set a meeting with the Suna council to finish their surrender agreement. After finishing the report on the ROOT agents, he went on to the civilian reports. He was grumbling to himself since now that the civilian council was gone, the paperwork seemed to increase but he didn't regret sending them off. After a few more minutes he felt something that was thankfully only felt by him. He made a hand gesture for all the Anbu that were in the office to leave. Once he was sure he was alone he moved to the window and opened it

The second the window was fully open, a crow came flying in.

Hiruzen quickly closed the window and pulled down the rarely used blinds. (I know there aren't really any blinds but I'm adding them for this). He then did a few hand seals and slammed his hand on the wall creating a privacy barrier. "Well, I wasn't expecting you Itachi-Kun."

The crow began to burst into a flock in the room before they converged and revealed Itachi Uchiha in Akatsuki robes "it has been a while since I have been near Konoha Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen sat in his chair as he continued to speak "so to what do I owe the pleasure of you being here then?"

"I was sent to retrieve the nine tails Jinchuriki."

"Mm, I thought as much based on your last report. I assume that you are not here alone."

Itachi nodded "yes. My partner and I are here for this mission. We are also being followed by Kakashi-san, Asuma-san, and Kurenai-san"

"I am hoping that you will not do anything too damaging to them."

"I must not give any indication that I am going easy on them. I am still undercover and I will fulfill my duty."

Hiruzen nodded "well at least try not to cause too much damage to the area. We have just gotten out of an attack and I am now more swamped than ever thanks to the disbanding of the Civilian council."

Itachi was surprised by this "so you finally removed the 'nuisances' as you once called them."

Hiruzen smiled "Yes, and although I have more work to do, I am happy I did it. Besides if all goes well, I won't be the one doing it anymore."

Itachi quirked an eyebrow "you are retiring. Who do you have as a replacement? Don't tell me it is Danzo."

Hiruzen then gave a grave look "I cannot recommend someone who is dead and this brings up something that I wanted to speak to you about." He began to pull out a scroll and unsealed its contents.

Itachi looked at the arm with a critical look. Although he looked stoic on the outside he was angry and disgusted on the inside.

"This was Danzo's. He had attached it to himself and hidden it from all of us with the bandages he wears."

Itachi narrowed his eyes and looked to the Hokage. "Were you able to remove his eye."

Hokage widened his eye before sighing "than you knew about this."

"Not this arm but I was aware of the eye that he implanted in his right eye socket."

Hiruzen nodded as he pulled out a vial and placed it on the desk

Itachi picked up the vail before storing it away "well what is it that you wish to speak to me about?"

Hiruzen straightened up "Danzo is no longer a threat in the village, his ROOT area all but wiped out and the last remaining danger in the village is your own brother."

Itachi felt a sense of dread from what was said

"I want your help on whether or not we tell Sasuke-Kun the truth about that night."

Silence permeated the room as both knew that this decision was something that could change much of Sasuke's perspective about his own family.

After a minute, Itachi spoke, "what has become of him?"

"He is consumed with revenge. He sees everyone around him to be nothing but a hindrance and I fear that if he continues down this path, he might turn against the village. He has also been marked by Orochimaru's curse mark and it is infecting his mind."

Itachi took in all this information and began to think of what he could do to fix this. He sighed after a bit of thought "I had hoped that he would focus on going against me and become a hero to the village. It seems that I had failed in this." he looked at the arm and reached to it.

Hiruzen would have stopped Itachi from taking the arm but the Sharingan that are implanted in it belong to the last two remaining loyal Uchiha in the village. He was surprised to see that he had not taken the arm but a single Sharingan eye before taking out a sealing tag and sealed it away.

"I will tell Sasuke myself the whole truth about that night. He will most likely believe it more if I tell him"

"I hope so, for I fear what he will do if he still rebels."

With that, Itachi moved to the window and lifted the blinds a tad and opened the window before bursting into a flock of crows and leaving the office.

Hiruzen sighed as he moved to lift the blinds more "he could have at least allow me to remove the privacy seals first."

* * *

~meanwhile~

Ino and Hinata were sitting across from each at the training ground that team 10 usually uses. Neither of them knew how to start the conversation that they need to have.

Hinata knew what this was about but she kept fidgeting and fiddling with her fingers while looking anywhere other than at Ino.

Ino watch as Hinata did this and she could honestly say that she was just as nervous. She didn't know how else to start so she decided to be blunt "so we both love Naruto." she said with a small tint of pink on her face

Hinata was startled by the sudden statement and she "eep"ed at it. She looked to Ino and with a blush on her face she nodded.

Ino shook her head with a smile on her face 'damn it Naruto, why did you have to make another girl fall for you?' "so what are we going to do about this?"

Hinata looked to the ground as she began to play with a blade of grass in her hand "I…..I-I think that you should be the one that stays with him."

Ino was surprised at this. She would have thought that Hinata would have fought a bit to stay with Naruto, despite her shy nature. Before she could ask anything Hinata continued.

"I ...I hurt Naruto badly a long time ago. It was an order from my father but I know that it hurt him a lot and even though he said he forgave me, I still think that I don't deserve to be with him."

"I hurt him too."

Hinata looked up at Ino and saw that she had a sad expression on her face

"After we graduated from the academy, we had an argument because of what he said to Sakura-san. Now that I think about it, he probably said it to help her get out of being an admirer of Sasuke. Anyway, I got mad at him when he was telling me why he said what he said but I was so angry with him that I slapped him. He decided to just walk away but before he left I made him promise to never talk to me again…..and he did. It was later that day when I realized what I had done but it was too late. He made the promise and we haven't talked at all until that day in the forest." Ino took a deep breath as she looked down "we both hurt Naruto in a way that it would hurt him the most. I want to be with him no matter what. I don't want to create another gap between him and me but I can tell that he cares about you just as much as he does me ...maybe more."

Hinata blushed as she remembered her moment with him in the nurse's office

"I can't tell him to choose one of us...because he wouldn't be able to. He would most likely choose not to be with one of us to avoid hurting the other. I love him Hinata and no matter what I will try and be with him. I want to know if you think the same thing."

Hinata didn't need to hesitate as she nodded her head "I love him Ino. he is my strength, my life…..the missing piece in my heart. I want to spend my life with him, even if he has turned into a fox, he is still the same Naruto that I fell in love with."

Ino smiled 'I want to hate you Naruto for making another girl love you as much as I do but I can't.' "Hinata-chan I want to ask you if you are willing to be with him if he is with me too."

Hinata was startled at this but she gained a determined look "we both hurt him. I don't want to hurt him anymore so yes. I may want him to myself but I don't think he would be able to do that"

"Even if he only chooses one of us, the other won't just let that be."

Both girls had come to an agreement. They would no longer hurt Naruto by forcing him to choose. They would share him and spend their lives with him no matter what the circumstances

* * *

~a few days later with Naruto~

In was a peaceful day on the road. The sky was clear, the birds were chirping and everyone was happy

"NARUTO YOU IDIOT!" *POP BOOM*

Well mostly

Naruto and Jiraiya were right now laying on their backs, away from each other and soaked. Naruto had been working on the first step of learning the **Rasengan** but as it turns out that since he had a water element, it caused the water in the balloon to explode with great force, causing much damage to anything and anyone nearby.

Jiraiya sat up with a tick mark on his forehead "damn it gaki! How many times do I have to tell you not to add your element to it!"

Naruto groaned as he slowly got up "I'm trying but it's harder for me to do that."

Jiraiya could only shake his head 'how the hell is it harder to NOT add an element to your chakra?! He has the opposite problem of normal people. And he only learned how to control his elements not that long ago!' Jiraiya got back to his feet and saw that they were close to their next destination "ok, how about we take a break. We are close to our next stop so we can enter the town and I can begin looking for any clue on our target."

Naruto glared at Jiraiya "you still haven't told me who we are looking for. If you just told me, I could use my clones to look through town faster!."

"But then you wouldn't be training as hard."

Naruto had the urge to punch Jiraiya right now as he felt like this was just an excuse to perv out on something.

* * *

~later~

They had spent a few hours going around asking people if they had seen the person in the photo that Jiraiya held

Naruto had tried to look at the photo but Jiraiya always put it away before he could get a look at who it was. All he saw was blonde, so he assumed that they were looking for a blonde person but with nothing else to work with he just followed Jiraiya. After a bit of time, they made their way to an inn.

As they were getting a room a woman walked passed them and for a brief moment, she winked at Jiraiya. The man soon got a goofy perverted smile and spoke to Naruto "well gaki, I've got something that I have to take care of so I'm going to let you check into our room."

Before Naruto could say anything he heard Jiraiya call out to the woman

"Mind if I buy you a drink, my fair lady."

Naruto had an eye twitch at what he watched the old pervert leave. Sighing he left to get some rest in their room "damn pervert."

Once Naruto entered his room he flopped down on the bed and just looked at the ceiling "I am going to make that pervert suffer the second we find the nextHokage. I know he helped me out with that frog fighting style but still, he pervs out way too mu…!" Naruto suddenly bolted to his feet as he felt massive amounts of negativity "what the hell!" he could feel massive amounts of KI and an equal amount of regret. He didn't know who it was coming from but he could tell that whoever it was, was getting closer. He made a clone and left it in the room as he decided to jump out of the window and made it the room next door. He looked through the window and saw that it was vacant. Looking at the bed he focused his chakra and switched places with a pillow. Once inside he pressed himself against the door and suppressed his chakra as much as he could. He was really glad that he practiced his stealth when he pranked the village and tried to stay away from the Anbu. he could feel the negativity coming closer and closer to where he was and he began to sweat as they got closer. He could now tell that the feeling of KI and regret were coming from two different people.

* * *

~with the clone~

The clone sat on the bed as it stared at the door. He pulled out a kunai, ready to jump out of the way the second the door is busted down. After a few agonizing seconds….there was a knock at the door. He was extremely dumbfounded at the fact that someone with this kind of feeling would feel the need to knock on the door. After hearing another set of knocks he chose to answer. As he was getting close he thought to himself 'now that I think about it, this Ki is nowhere near as dense as Rama-tou-san.' with that thought in his head, he opened the door.

"Naruto Uzumaki?"

The first thing the clone noticed was that the two people in front of him were wearing black robes with red clouds on them. Another thing he noticed were the headbands they had. Both were from different villages and each had a cut going through the symbol. One of them was the symbol for Kiri but the one that fully caught his attention was the one with HIS village.

"You are Naruto Uzumaki are you not?"

The clone shook his head to get out of his thoughts before getting serious, whoever these people were they were not friendly. "Depends. Who's asking?"

The one with his symbol merely looked impassively at him and he was shocked when he saw his eyes turn into the Sharingan. 'Oh boy'

"Itachi he doesn't need to be in one piece. Why don't you let me cut off his legs and we can just take drag what's left, back with us?"

Itachi looked to his left at his partner Kisame for a second before shifting his eyes to the door next door. Turning back to Naruto he shook his head. "It would be better that he remains intact as he might die from blood loss. We shall take him with us, willingly or not." he was about to activate a genjutsu to convince Naruto to go with them but they were interrupted.

"ITACHI!"

They all looked to who yelled

The clone saw it was Sasuke 'what is he doing here!"

Kisame looked on with a smile at the newcomer "well, this sure is interesting." he noticed the eyes of the boy "The Sharingan? And he looks a lot like you do Itachi. A relative of yours?"

Itachi turned to face Naruto "he's my little brother."

* * *

~with Naruto~

Naruto was surprised at this 'so one of them is the teme's brother.' He wished he could see what was going on but he was being cautious about this, especially since they were apparently after him. 'Better wait and see what happens.'

* * *

Sasuke glared at Itachi, not caring about the other people here. As he channeled his chakra he growled out "I've done as you've said Itachi. I've fostered my hatred for you and I am ready to kill you!" he did the hand signs for the **Chidori.** He brought it to his side while using his other hand to bring down his high collar, revealing the curse mark spreading "PREPARE TO DIE ITACHI!" he made a charge while dragging the **Chidori **on the wall. Leaving a large trench in it.

* * *

Naruto heard the destruction coming and at the last second moved away from the door and saw a ball of lighting cut the door in half. "Shit he's outnumbered!"

* * *

Sasuke leapt forward, thrusting his Chidori at Itachi

Kisame smiled at the whole thing

The Naruto clone stood there watching the whole thing, thinking of a way to get Sasuke out of this, as he had a gut feeling that Sasuke was no match for these two.

Itachi turned to face Sasuke, instantly grabbed the wrist and threw it to the side, causing the wall to explode.

Sasuke gritted his teeth as he saw that his jutsu was just flung to the side. He tried to pull his wrist free but Itachi had an iron grip

The Naruto clone decided that now was the time to do something. He channeled chakra into his throat and launched his demon free at the two

Kisame grabbed his sword and swung it down at the fire causing it to split and dissipate

The clone was wide-eyed as he saw his attack fade away "what the hell?!"

Kisame smiled wider "my sword Samehada, can eat and disperse chakra. In other words, your little fire trick will do nothing but feed it" after he finished saying this, the very sword shivered and gave a low purring growl. "Oh seems he likes your chakra, like a spicy dish apparently."

Sasuke grew tired of trying to get his wrist out so he jumped and attempted to kick Itachi.

Itachi released Sasuke's wrist, which caused Sasuke to lose balance in the air, and kicked Sasuke in the stomach.

Sasuke coughed up some blood, flew down the hall, impacted the wall, and slumped down to the ground. He gritted his teeth as he tried to get back up "I'll…..f-fucking….kill you…"

Itachi made his way to his fallen little brother, ready to finish this. But as he made his way he heard four heavy thumps to his right, in one of the rooms. He turned his head and instantly brought up a hand to grab a kick aimed for his head. The impact of the kick on his hand created a gust of wind to blow down the hall. "Impressive strength you have. However, you are not strong enough to be any sort of match against me, Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto glared at the one he kicked and figured this to be Sasuke's brother since he could see the Sharingan in his eyes. Swinging his other leg in the air he tried to continue his attack but his second kick missed as Itachi ducked under it.

Itachi used the fact that the boy was in the air to palm strike him in the back, which sent him towards Kisame. Itachi turned back to Sasuke who was now on his knees "time to end this little brother." He picked up Sasuke by the neck and pressed him against the wall "you don't have enough hate in you. You are weak and you always will be." he activated his Mangekyou Sharingan and looked into Sasuke's eyes "**Tsukuyomi!**"

* * *

Kisame turned to see another blonde flying towards him

Naruto was gritting his teeth from the hit that Itachi gave him but he quickly regained his bearings to see he was heading towards Kisame. Using the momentum from the hit, he flipped in the air and channeled chakra into his now extended claws. He put all his strength into the swipe in order to cut the man's face but only hit the sword.

The clone took this chance and went to strike the man while his back was turned with his wind claws. Unfortunately, Kisame kicked him in the stomach, which caused him to dispel

Kisame looked a bit more interested "so that was a shadow clone. Now when did you have a chance in doing that?" Kisame grabbed Naruto by the throat and squeezed hard

Naruto felt his throat closing and was really glad that he didn't really need to breathe but the pain was not helping his predicament. 'Damn it!' he tired kicking at Kisame but due to his hight, he couldn't reach. He tried thinking of what to switch with but he couldn't focus on anything. And Itachi had too much chakra so he wouldn't be able to switch without using a lot of his chakra. He saw that Kisame was bringing his sword up to his legs

Before anything else could be done a large puff of smoke enveloped them and Kisame had to move his sword in order to block a weapon he could not see due to the smoke. He dropped the boy as he had to jump away from another strike from the unknown assailant, which after the smoke cleared was revealed to be a human-sized toad with a sword in it's grasp.

Naruto was caught before he could hit the ground. He looked up to see who it was that caught him and much to his relief it was the perverted sage "what took you so long?"

Jiraiya smiled down at the boy "had some things to take care of."

Naruto noticed that the woman that they saw earlier was hanging on his opposite shoulder "should I call the authorities on you for what you did to her?"

Jiraiya really felt like facefaulting but he held it back and turned his gaze to the two enemy-nin "we have bigger problems right now."

Itachi had finished with Sasuke and dropped his little brother on the ground. He turned and walked to Kisame "Kisame, we should retreat."

Kisame looked to Itachi with a quirked eyebrow "you use that on your little brother eh. Even for me, that is cold." Kisame's smile dropped when he realized that because of it, they would need to retreat "couldn't you have just killed him instead of ruining my fun?"

Jiraiya glared at the two "you two aren't going anywhere!" quickly going through some hand signs he slammed his free hand to the ground, making sure that the woman didn't fall off his shoulder. Suddenly the hall turned into a pink squishy material.

Naruto was grossed out as he was reminded of the snake that almost ate him and the material looked too much like the inside of the snake's mouth. He also noticed that Sasuke was not inside this disgusting area with them.

Itachi and Kisame looked around the new area before Itachi looked to Jiraiya "I believe that our stay must be cut short, I'm afraid." he looked to the side of the wall and closed one of his eyes before shooting it open "**Amaterasu!**" Black flames suddenly appeared on the part of the wall he looked at.

Jiraiya was stunned to see the part of the toad stomach that Itachi shot at begin to burn away. He was so stunned at this that he was to slow in stopping them "wait!" he ran to the hole that was made and saw that they had disappeared. He made sure he kept his distance away from the black flames as he had never seen them before and he was not keen on finding out what they are the hard way. He sighed as he dispelled the toad stomach and gently out the woman down before dropping Naruto unceremoniously on the ground.

Naruto groaned as he hit his head on the ground 'he will suffer my pranks from hell. Damn, I can't wait till I get back to the village.' Naruto got back on his feet and noticed the slumped form of Sasuke. He gave a small whine as he made his way to him, ignoring what Jiraiya was doing. Kneeling down in front of the Uchiha he noticed the blank look in his eyes "damn what did he do to you?" he waved his hand in front of Sasuke's face in order to get a reaction but he suddenly a weird feeling went up his spine. The feeling was familiar and he was trying to think about when he felt it last. He heard Jiraiya walk closer to him and at that moment his instincts took over and he laid flat on the ground just in time to hear

"**Dynamic Entry!"**

Naruto heard a yelp of pain from Jiraiya and he remembered when he felt that feeling before. It was when he had first met Guy-sensei and his odd way of coming into a battle. "I'm so glad that I wasn't hit by that again"

* * *

End of Chapter

Beta Reader is under the weather so this one has not been beta read. once it has I will replace this one with the B-read version at a later time. no real change will happen just a better flow

Ok so I'm giving Naruto a different problem with the Rasengan than in canon and I have a solution he will come up with later on

Ok something that I want to clarify here since I have wanted to clarify it in a chapter awhile ago but it got away from me. For the Kawarimi, in this fic it is still a basic jutsu but I have read it being used to switch with people before and in my head, I felt it needed an explanation so what I came up with is that it is easy to switch with inanimate objects because they have no chakra so, in order to switch with someone, you must use more chakra. And the stronger the chakra the person has, the more you need for switching with them, which is why normal shinobi don't use it in such a manner because you could lose a lot of chakra because of it. Naruto doesn't have this problem because he has a massive amount of it

The bit with Hinata and Ino was difficult for me as I had no clue how to make that conversation work. I hope I did alright and you find it acceptable

Ok to clear something up before a guest asks me. the four thumps that were heard were Naruto removing his greaves and bracers. This is just cause I have had a quest reviewer ask something that I feel I answered within the chapter or should be insinuated.

Also, a lot of you readers have given me some ideas on what Naruot's second summon contract should be. Weasels, bears, foxes, eagles. Heck, I had one reviewer suggest some summons for Hinata and Ino. Hinata with either a panda summons or bunny and Ino with a cat summons. Interesting thought about those two and I might do it. But most are leaning towards the fox summoning contract for Naruto

Also was Pm'd about possibly doing the movies but I'm not sure about it


	38. Gambling and the Gambler

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

**"Demon/Summon speech"**

**'Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts'**

**Jutsu name**

(author comment)

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Beta-read by: Irusha the Kitsune

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I just own the stories in my heads

* * *

Chapter 38: Gambling and the Gambler

"Ok Gaki, you finished both steps, even though you had such odd problems... So! Let's see how you do on the last step!"

Naruto was about to start but he paused to looked at Jiraiya "You mind showing it to me again...?"

Jiraiya grumbled at being asked this "You're gonna kill me with chakra exhaustion if you keep asking me to do this for you..." Jiraiya brought his hand up and created a **Rasengan** for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

Naruto leaned forward to look at the attack. After a minute he pulled back and decided to try it himself. He brought both hands up with one palm facing upwards and the other hovering a foot away. He began to focus on gathering chakra in his palm, he didn't know why it was so hard to gather chakra in his palm when he could focus chakra in his fingers so easily... After a few seconds, he shut his eyes and tried to force the chakra into the desired shape.

Jiraiya could see the start of the jutsu begin but soon his look of amazement became dread as he saw that the orb that was forming wasn't a swirling blue... It was a dark purple. He felt the air around them begin to become heavy and watched as the ground under Naruto slowly started to crack "Uh Gaki…"

Naruto continued to focus on the jutsu in his hands, tuning Jiraiya out.

"Gaki!"

Naruto felt that he was close to getting it right... 'Just a little more...'

"NARUTO!"

Naruto's eyes shot open in surprise and due to the weight and shock the orb of purple chakra dissipated and he fell on his ass. He then realized that he felt lighter now as he didn't realize that he was getting heavier. Looking to Jiraiya he quirked an eyebrow when he saw that the man was a few feet further away and hiding behind an earth wall.

Jiraiya peeked out from his hiding spot and sighed in relief, seeing that the extremely dangerous mini **Bijuu-dama** dissipate. "Ok, scratch everything else. We need to work on separating your chakras"

Naruto tilted his head in confusion "Huh? Why...?"

"BECAUSE YOU DAMN NEAR BLEW US TO KINGDOM COME..!" After taking a breath to calm down he spoke normally. "The old man told me that you have your human chakra, your demon chakra, and the Kyuubi's chakra. What you need to do is just use your human chakra. What you were doing was mixing your human and demon chakra, I don't know if you are adding Kyuubi's but since you were mixing them, you were creating a mini **Bijuu-dama**."

Naruto grew excited, visibly perking up. "Really!?"

"DON'T BE SO HAPPY! FROM WHAT I COULD TELL YOU COULD BARELY HOLD IT TOGETHER...! LOOK AT THE GROUND RIGHT NOW!"

Naruto looked at where he was sitting and noticed that there was a set of footprints that were a few inches buried in the ground and cracks all around them. There was even a small crater... "Oh... Wow... I did that?"

**"That's why I didn't want to teach you the Bijuu-dama... You're not ready to handle the weight of the attack."**

Naruto felt crestfallen at this. 'I was just excited about using an attack our kind is known for...'

Jiraiya sighed 'Maybe I should have taught him some water jutsu instead...? Sure would've been easier...' He looked behind him to see that they were almost at Tanzaku. "Ok, let's call it a day. We're almost there and I can almost guarantee that we'll find who we're looking for."

Naruto got up and dusted off his pants. "How can you be so sure?"

Jiraiya smiled fondly as if he was lost in a memory "She's a chronic gambler... With the event going on she's bound to be here!"

* * *

~Tanzaku town~

Naruto and Jiraiya went around asking people if they had seen a woman in a picture. Thankfully they kept pointing from one casino to another. This meant that she was is in town so they wouldn't need to move on.

After the fifth casino they went to, Naruto was starting to get frustrated "Why is everyone so hung up on these stupid gambling games!?"

Jiraiya looked behind him at Naruto "Don't knock it till you try it, kid. Why not try your luck at one of them right now actually?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders not seeing the harm in using some money on one of them. They made it to the next casino and Naruto looked around at all the pachinko and slot machines. Pulling out his almost empty fox wallet, he went to one of them and tried playing a bit while Jiraiya asked around the casino.

* * *

~later~

Naruto had the biggest smile on his face as he was carrying both his fox wallet and toad wallet as well as a storage scroll. Each filled to the brim with money that he had won from the casino.

Jiraiya was walking behind Naruto with his arms and mouth dropped as he could not believe what he was watching. 'This is the first time he's ever gambled and yet he leaves the casino with all the money they have...! What kind of bullshit luck is this!?'

* * *

~back at Casino~

The owner and employees of the casino were sitting outside of his casino as they cried waterfall tears. Behind them was the casino with its doors closed with a sign on it saying "Shut down until further notice."

* * *

~back with Naruto and Jiraiya~

Naruto smiled as he put the scroll in his jacket and looked at his two wallets "They sure do look better when they're full..."

Jiraiya shook his head as he walked a bit faster to catch up with Naruto "Maybe you should let me hold on to those so you don't get tempted into one of the Shinobi Vices..."

Naruto could feel the greed coming off Jiraiya in waves, so he pulled out a paper fan and hit him in the face "You're the one that should be wary about the vices of Shinobi!"

Jiraiya rubbed his face "Why the hell do you have one of those, gaki!?"

Naruto pulled out a small storage scroll and sealed the fan away "Tenten said that there are going be moments in my life where I'll want to hit someone with a fan. I believe her so I usually have a small one stuffed in my weapons pouch. Now that you've taught me seals, I can bring a full-size one and use it!" The sheer happiness in Naruto's voice as he said this made Jiraiya shiver as he thinks back to times he pissed off Kushina.

Jiraiya grumbled as he rubbed his nose 'I shouldn't have taught him seals. Damn the Uzumaki blood in him!'

They continued the search until they came upon a pile of rubble that could've once been a casino.

Naruto was worried as he thought there might've been an attack but when he looked to Jiraiya, he saw the man smiling.

"Oh yeah, she's here!"

"Who?"

"The one we happen to be looking for, of course!"

Naruto grew a tick mark as he was getting tired of not really knowing who they were looking for "Alright, come on! You gotta tell me who we're looking for!"

Jiraiya waved his hand dismissively "You'll find out when we find where she went." He then went to ask where the one who did the destruction went.

Naruto was grumbling as he just crossed his arms and followed the old man.

* * *

~Bar~

Naruto and Jiraiya were walking into a bar as this was the last place that they were told to go to.

Naruto scrunched up his nose "I hate the smell of alcohol."

Jiraiya looked around for the one he was looking for "Oh stop whining... It's not like we are going to be here for long!" Jiraiya finally saw the blonde he was looking for "Tsunade!"

Said woman turned in her seat to see who had called her "Jiraiya...?"

Naruto followed Jiraiya to the booth that the woman was sitting at. They sat opposite of Tsunade and another woman who was holding a small pig that wore a red vest. Naruto eyed the pig for a bit 'Based on the fact that the pig is in the woman's arms, wearing that vest and beads means it belongs to them. Damn! It looks tasty too...'

Tonton felt a shiver down her spine as she noticed the boy eyeing her like she was a piece of meat.

Tsunade eyed Jiraiya for a second before pouring herself some sake "First the crippled snake and now the perverted toad. Is there a reunion that I didn't hear about goin' on?"

Jiraiya gained a grim expression when he heard that "What did he want?"

Tsunade drank her sake "Nothing. He just dropped by to say hi."

"Liar."

Tsunade and Shizune looked to the one who spoke and saw that it was the boy that came with Jiraiya. Tsunade scrutinized the boy before asking "And how would you know if I was lying, brat?"

Naruto was looking at a menu and trying to decide what to get... At the old man's expense, of course. "For one thing, the only snake I could think of that could possibly meet someone that Jiraiya knows is Orochimaru-teme, and based on the last time I met the guy he isn't the type to just come and say 'hi'... That and I can tell you're lying."

Tsunade looked to Jiraiya after taking in all that the boy said "Who is this brat Jiraiya? I thought after your last student, you wouldn't take on another one."

Jiraiya chose to ignore that small jab at him "This is Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm teaching him because he has a lot of potential and raw talent."

Tsunade shook her head as she grabbed the bottle of sake "Tch! Ok than, the hell do you want?"

Jiraiya leaned onto the table. "The old man has decided that he wants you to be the next Hokage of our village..."

Tsunade looked saddened for a bit but it soon turned into a scowl "No thanks. Why should I accept a job only fools want?"

This didn't sit well with Naruto as he had respect for the Hokage and the choices that they had made. Even if he didn't like some of the ones that revolved around him, he understood that it was thought to be for the best. Also, it wasn't that long ago when he wanted above all else to be Hokage. He still gritted his teeth at the statement

"Tsunade-hime, you're going a bit too far. You know that those two wanted to become Hokage…"

"Shut up..." Tsunade's voice carried a hint of warning this time.

Jiraiya sighed "Don't you think you've had enough time to grieve...? You can't just drown yourself in-"

"I said SHUT UP!" she slammed her fist down on the table but thankfully not full strength so all that happened was that it cracked a bit.

Naruto looked down at the table to see the cracks. He then looked up at Tsunade who was glaring at the man...

"I'm never going back to the village that took everything from me! And there is no way I would take the job of a fool!" After Tsunade finished her angry comment, her face was suddenly hit by water. It wasn't like an attack or anything that would hurt. It was more like someone was spitting water at her. Looking at who did it she saw that it was the blonde kid that was with Jiraiya. He had his index finger pointed at her with his thumb extended as well (finger gun). He also had an intense glare that seemed to radiate anger but what shocked her the most was that his eyes were now slitted.

Naruto brought his hand down "If this is who we came here for then we're better off looking elsewhere... A washed-up hag like this wallowing in her own self-pity doesn't deserve the position anyways."

Tsunade was fuming at what the brat did to her. "What'd you say you little…!?"

"The feeling just comes off you in waves... You're filled with regret, sadness, and anger and here you are drinking and gambling. Yeah, that's totally a good way to live! You lost someone, sorry to hear that, but wallowing in your own negativity doesn't change anything! So act like the kunoichi you are and get over it!"

Tsunade grabbed Naruto by his shirt and in anger tossed him towards the entrance.

"Tsunade!"

"Lady Tsunade!

"Oink!"

Naruto was quick enough to flip in the air and plant his feet on the ground, but he still slid on the ground and his back hit the wall of the building across the street of the bar. "Ow..." He watched the woman walk out of the bar, looking ready to kill him "Ok, fine..." He moved to the side, not taking his eyes off her.

Both moved until they both were in the middle of the street and facing each other.

Jiraiya and Shizune ran out of the bar and watched on the sidelines at the fight about to start.

"Lady Tsunade, you shouldn't fight him! He's just a boy!" Shizune yelled.

"She's right Tsunade-hime, you really shouldn't try and kill the kid..."

Tsunade had heard them and took a breath to calm down a bit. She was still angry but she was no longer seeing red. "Don't worry, I won't kill him. But I will teach him a lesson on respecting his betters."

Naruto didn't know how strong this woman was but his gut was telling him not to underestimate her so he began to undo his bracers and grieves "I know how to respect my betters… But you? You're not one of them."

Tsunade grew a tick mark but she was interested in seeing him remove his arm and leg protection. "Heh! I'll show you. I only need one finger to beat you."

Naruto just grabbed his equipment and smirked. "Sure… just give me the win ya hag!" He tosed the four pieces to land in between them.

Tsunade was surprised to see that the grieves and bracers impact the ground and create four large plumes of smoke. She had to jump back as she saw the boy come out of the smoke and kicked where she was. Landing on the ground she pushed forward. She swung her finger at the boy, hitting his headband off his forehead before bringing it towards his forehead again.

Naruto had clenched his eyes when his headband was flung off him. The force of it had been enough to push his head back a bit. He cracked open an eye to see her getting ready to flick him and at the last second, he smirked.

Tsunade flicked hard and saw him fly away and into a building. She felt a bit of regret at putting as much force as she did but it was too late to take it back now

Shizune was stunned to see Tsunade do that to a young boy "Lady Tsunade that was too much!"

"I agree. I almost feel sorry for him."

Both women turned their head to where Jiraiya was standing only to be dumbstruck seeing Naruto standing there with a cocky smirk and arms crossed

"He's going to have a headache for a while..."

Both women looked to where the body was and they could see a leg with a wooden sandal on the foot, twitching. They realized it was Jiraiya that was sent flying.

Shizune looked at the boy "How did you do that?"

Naruto smiled as he looked to where Jiraiya laid "Everyone only ever uses the **Kawarimi** to switch with inanimate objects, but I learned you can switch with people too. I'm just glad he wasn't flaring his chakra and that boss gave me just enough to switch."

Tsunade was impressed at what he said until she noticed "'Boss'...?" She saw the Naruto they were talking to poof away before she heard a swirling sound come from behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see a glaring Naruto coming at her with what she could tell to be the **Rasengan** between both of his hands. She turned as quick as she could and slammed her fist into the ground, causing the earth to upturn towards the boy.

Naruto saw it coming and jumped at the last second. He thrust the **Rasengan** but due to his jump being at a low angle, his foot got caught a bit by one of the chunks of earth and it threw him off target.

Tsunade saw the jutsu still coming towards her and jumped out of the way but unfortunately, she was still grazed in the leg by the jutsu. She gritted her teeth at the pain but she was thankful that she was able to get out of the way. She saw the jutsu impact the ground and caused some damage to it but not enough to show that it was complete.

Naruto hated the fact that he had missed but he was somewhat glad that he was able to get the jutsu closer to completion. "Well at least I got it to work….sort of."

Tsunade glared at Naruto "Who taught you that jutsu? Jiraiya?"

Naruto wanted to make a snarky remark but the only one that came to his mind had to do with his dad Minato but he didn't trust this woman about that truth so he told her the actual truth. "Ero-Senin is the only one that could have taught me that."

Tsunade was internally laughing at the name the boy called Jiraiya but she still grimaced a bit "How could he teach something like that to someone who wouldn't be able to master it...?"

Naruto gained a tick mark but held his tongue.

"That jutsu is too much for someone who lets their temper take over."

"And you know me so well that you can just up and say what I can and can't do?"

Tsunade put her hands on her hips "It's obvious that you're far from mastering that jutsu, and I doubt you ever will."

"Wanna bet on it?"

Tsunade quirked an eyebrow "Oh...?"

Naruto walked to where his bracers and grieves were before walking back to her and started putting them back on "I bet I can master this jutsu within a week, and if I win you come back to the village without complaining."

Tsunade smirked "Fine, if you win then I'll go back with you. Hell, I'll even throw in my necklace... But if I win then you have to give up on being a shinobi!"

Naruto hated the fact that she was making him give up being a shinobi but a little voice in his head told him that it wouldn't matter and he had to agree. In a moment of vain ego he realized that even if he wasn't a shinobi anymore, it didn't mean that he couldn't protect those important to him. It just meant that he would need another way of getting money. So, in the end, he didn't really lose. "You're on, baa-chan!" He chose to get started and leaped away before she could hit him for the old lady comment.

Shizune walked up to Tsunade with Tonton following "Lady Tsunade, was that wise?"

Tsunade shook her head "It doesn't matter." She winced as she felt the spot that the incomplete **Rasengan **grazed before she sat down and started healing herself with medical chakra.

The three heard a groan and the clanking of wooden footsteps before they turned to see Jiraiya walking up to them on wabbly feet and a hand on his forehead

"What hit me...?"

Tsunade smirked "I did. It's interesting how your student uses such a basic jutsu like that..."

Jiraiya was still rubbing the spot that Tsunade hit "He's the first to ever really use it in such a manner."

Shizune looked at the man "So you know how he does it?"

Jiraiya nodded "Yeah. Told me that he basically uses the jutsu like everyone else but when he tries with a person, he pumps in more chakra than the person he switches with has. I never thought he could do it with me though..."

Tsunade finished healing herself "He said that he was glad you didn't flare your chakra."

Jiraiya palmed his fist "Ah so that's how you counteract it!" He then gained a serious look "Hime, we need to talk."

Tsunade gave a frustrated sigh "Fine!"

The two older adults left to a bar and Shizune decided that she should check up on Naruto.

* * *

End of chapter

Well, I found a way to put in the **Kawarami **explanation after I gave it in the author's comments in the last chapter.

Remember that although Naruto would still like to be Hokage, it's not his dream anymore.

The hand water gun was something I wanted him to do for a while and what better way to use it than to piss off someone like Tsunade?

The accidental forming of the **bijuu-dama** that Naruto did was something I realized that would happen since he has his demon chakra flowing in him. It came to mind when I remembered how he did it in Shippuden.

To the Guest. In a very early chapter, Naruto met Guy when he was coming up with a prank for Kakashi. There was no real section of the meeting but many can guess what had happened. He was introduced by Tenten and that is how he met Lee as well.

Nothing really against you "Guest" for asking these questions, but I have received a bunch of questions that ARE answered in the story and for ones that are not, I cannot respond to you if you don't have an account for me to PM!

Now a lot of people have thrown in the idea of giving Ino and Hinata a summons and honestly, I think I could do it and since Naruto is getting two I MIGHT be able to give two to them. BUT I don't think I will be able to give them two. It would be extremely difficult to put it in this section of the story. Heck, I might be able to give them a summons in the Shippuden era...

So now I ask: if Ino and Hinata do get a summons, which ones should they get?

I was also given the idea of Hinata getting an Owl summons

Please read, favorite, follow, and review!


	39. Deadlock

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

**"Demon/Summon speech"**

**'Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts'**

**Jutsu name**

(author comment)

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Beta-read by: Irusha the Kitsune

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

Chapter 39: Deadlock

~bar~

Both Sanin were sitting at the bar table pouring themselves drinks.

Jiraiya poured himself a drink as he began to speak "So... What did he want?"

Tsunade drank her sake "What makes you think that he wanted anything?"

"Come on Tsunade-hime... You know just as well as I do that he wouldn't come to see you if he didn't want something. So what was it?"

Tsunade couldn't help but smirk at the thought of her former teammate's state when she first saw him...

* * *

_~flashback~_

_Tsunade and Shizune stood in an empty alley with a young boy named Kabuto and a hooded figure._

_Tsunade scowled at the hooded figure before she spoke "What do you want from me, Orochimaru? Did you think that I wouldn't recognize your foul stench!?"_

_"Kukuku am I not allowed to see my old teammate?" The words came out oily and _

_If looks could kill Orochimaru would be dead a few times over but unfortunately, Tsunade didn't have this kind of ability... "Don't treat me like a fool! Now tell me what you want before I turn you into a smear on the ground!"_

_Kabuto lowered himself into a stance, he even channeled chakra into his palm._

_Shizune got into her own stance ready to defend her master._

_Kabuto was stopped however by Orochimaru's hand on his shoulder._

_Orochimaru took a limping step forward "I require your particular... Expertise, Tsunade."_

_Tsunade noticed the limp and quirked an eyebrow "Why would you need my help? From what I could tell you already have a medic with you. Why can't he heal your limp?"_

_Orochimaru moved his cloak to reveal his right leg._

_Tsunade noticed that the leg looked like it had third-degree burns but what really caught her eye was the foot. It looked like it was the foot of a corpse as some of it was rotting. This made her feel uneasy at the sight so she shifted her gaze back to his eyes "What stupid experiment did this to you?"_

_"Kuku this is an unforeseen side effect from a jutsu that I have yet to fully understand. And although Kabuto-san here is a good practitioner of his field even he is unable to heal this type of injury. I need this to be healed for me as it is continuing to damage this body."_

_Tsunade only scowled harder at the man "And why should I help you? Why shouldn't I just let you suffer from that and hope you die from it?"_

_Orochimaru smirked at this._

_~end of Flashback~_

* * *

Tsunade got out of her thoughts as she took another sip of her drink "...He wants me to heal him."

Jiraiya knew that there was more to this. "So, what did he offer you in return?"

Tsunade seemed to sober up exceptionally as she thought of the deal "It doesn't concern you."

"I beg to differ."

* * *

~Shizune~

Shizune had spent some time trying to find out where Naruto had gone. It surprised her that she had lost sight of the boy since he only had a few minute's heads start. Now walking in the forest outside of town she had seen some damaged trees, which she took as a trail to where he would be. After a bit more searching she found him, or at least ...his clones. She was stunned silent as she could see groups of clones that were doing several things. Some were doing to usual tree walking and leaf exercises, but some were doing them in an unconventional way. She saw that some of the clones were using the tree walking exercise but instead of walking up the tree without using their hands, they were going up the tree with just their hands in a way that made them look like they were doing handstands. Some of them were hanging from branches with just their fingertips, which she could see were coated with chakra. There was one that stood out from the rest though. He was in the center of the training area, keeping himself upright from his fingertip that was pressed against the end of a kunai. She realized that this one was the original and he was doing something that no one ever thought about before. To focus chakra into a single point would be an extremely difficult way of chakra control but it would be exceptionally helpful but the way he was doing it was really risky because if he fell, he would most likely have the kunai stabbed into a part of his body. She was pulled from her thoughts when she saw him extend his free hand to his side with the palm face upward. She watched as chakra began to form in his palm that looked like it was the start of the **Rasengan **but the color was different because instead of being blue, it was red.

Naruto began to sweat as he found it extremely difficult to separate his demon chakra from his human chakra. He was so used to just letting the two mix for his attacks as they made his jutsu stronger but this time he needed to focus because the jutsu that he was trying now would become something far too dangerous for everyone. He tiled his head to his right to see that he had a **Rasengan **forming and even if it isn't blue it means that it is possible with both of his chakras. He wanted to see how strong the jutsu us right now but he was right now focusing on how to form the thing correctly. He now knew that with focus, he can separate his chakras. Taking a deep breath to relax a bit, he caught the scent of someone else here in his training area. Dissipating the jutsu, he lowered his legs to the ground and looked towards where the scent came from "You can come out now... I know you're there." All the clones stopped what they were doing and looked in the same direction as the original.

Shizune felt a little unnerved at all the clones looking towards her but she walked out and towards Naruto. "Sorry if I'm interrupting your training."

Naruto sighed as he sat on the floor and dispelled all the clones. This caused him to fall back and laid on the ground "Ow... I hate doing that." He pressed his palms on his forehead. After a few seconds he sat back up, breathing heavily but he looked at the woman that had arrived before noticing the pig that was hiding behind her leg "Relax... I'm not going to eat you." 'I'm just going to have to wait until I go hunting again to eat a pig.'

Tonton, although still wary, slowly came out and stood next to Shizune.

Naruto smiled at the pig before looking up at Shizune "So, what did you want?"

Shizune took a breath before speaking "I wanted to tell you why Lady Tsunade is like this and that you shouldn't accept the necklace that she put on the bet."

Naruto reached into his jacket to pull out a scroll before unsealing a canteen of water. While opening the canteen he spoke to her "I'm not doing this for the necklace, I'm doing this to prove to her that she doesn't have the right to tell me what I can and can't do."

Shizune shook her head "Still you should know why she is like this. When she lived in Konoha….."

* * *

~later~

Naruto had heard the story about Tsunade's little brother and her lover and how she lost them both. He did feel bad for the woman, and he could understand the need to grieve... But to him, this still seemed more like running away from her problems. "It still doesn't give her the right to bad mouth the Hokage. They chose to be Hokage, heck Ero-Senin told me that the fourth wasn't aiming for it but was nominated. Her saying that those who want to be Hokage not only insults those who became Hokage but also those who wanted to but never got the chance." Naruto turned away from Shizune, back to the kunai "She even insults the very people that she loved so much... Her little brother wanted to be Hokage, her lover wanted to be Hokage. Now she's given the chance to really honor their memory instead of wallowing in self-pity, but instead, she calls it a fool's job." He pressed his finger to the tip of the kunai blade, focused his chakra in his finger and pushed his legs up in the air.

Shizune sighed as she had understood what Tsunade was doing. She let her master do what she wanted in the hopes that she would move past her grief but so far, that hasn't happened. She decided to move past this subject and asked him something "Anyway I understand that what you are doing is a way of chakra control but why is the jutsu coming out red?"

Naruto lifted his head to look at her before looking back to the kunai "Sorry, that's a secret and due to the fact that you and Baa-chan have met with hebi-teme, I can't trust you completely."

Shizune sat on the grass as she watched him "You don't trust many people, do you?"

"People have never given me a reason to trust them, and there are very few people in the world that I do trust."

Shizune nodded as she understood that the world has people like that. "Well, I would like you to trust me when I say that you shouldn't take the necklace if you win the bet. It could get you killed."

'I died before…..I don't plan on dying again.' "She put that in the bet so I'm going to win that necklace maybe just to prove her wrong." He lifted his free hand and again formed another red **Rasengan**.

* * *

~A week later~

Naruto was sleeping in his bed as he was exhausted from his training session the previous day. He'd spent all his time throughout the week training to get the **Rasengan **right. He found out that his training went faster when in the middle of the week he had to shift back into his fox form. He figured it was due to being less restrained as a bijuu than he is a human. He wanted to stay a fox for the rest of their time here but with Tsunade and Shizune around, he couldn't risk it so after his free two days of being a fox, he shifted back. He was startled awake when the door swung open. He jolted up with his hands, as a bit of drool came out of his mouth "huh whazza….?"

"Naruto-san! Have you seen Lady Tsunade or Jiraiya!?"

Naruto rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked to the newcomer. After his vision cleared he saw that it was Shizune and Tonton. It took him a second to register the question "Uh, no... I haven't seen them, not since last night when she and Ero-Senin went out for some drinks."

"How…..many times have I gotta tell you…..not to call me that Gaki?"

Shizune and Naruto looked towards the door to see that the one who spoke was Jiraiya and he looked like he was barely holding himself up.

Jiraiya grimaced as he moved a bit "Never expected her to spike my drink... Hey Shizune, you got an antidote for whatever it is she gave me?"

Shizune began to exam him with a medical examination jutsu. When she found out what his symptoms were she was able to pull out one of the antidotes that she had on her "This should help you."

Jiraiya took the antidote quickly and already felt some of the effects of the poison fade. Once he could stand he looked to the two "We need to move. She is most likely meeting with Orochimaru right now!"

Shizune began to panic "That's right! I was looking for you two. If she's already gone then we have to stop her!"

Naruto looked to Jiraiya "Are you going to be able to keep up?"

Jiraiya smirked while holding back a wince "I should ask you that."

With that, the three shinobi and pig ran off to stop Tsunade.

* * *

~open field~

The three shinobi were coming up on an open field as Naruto had tracked her down. When they grew closer they saw that Kabuto had Tsunade kneeling in front of him. They saw that Kabuto was pulling back his fist to hit the woman.

Naruto gritted his teeth as he focused on Tsunade. 'Come on come on….yes!' "Shizune get ready to catch Tsunade!"

Shizune was confused at what he meant but a look from Jiraiya told her to just be ready

Kabuto channeled chakra into his fist as he was aiming to send a pulse of chakra into her head to shut the brain down. As his fist was closing in he suddenly found his fist stopped. He was shocked at what was in front of them or rather ...who.

"Surprise...!"

Kabuto felt an impact in his stomach and he was sent back by the force. Once he stopped rolling on the ground he righted himself and saw that it was Naruto with his foot in the air.

Naruto dropped his foot and looked towards Kabuto with a smirk on his face but it dropped when he saw who was standing a few feet behind him. "Hey, hebi-teme. I was really hoping that I wouldn't see you again..." Just as he finished saying this, Jiraiya and Shizune with Tsunade and Tonton in her arms dropped next to him

Orochimaru smiled at the sight of Jiraiya "Well well, it would seem that this reunion is complete... All three sannin are here. It almost brings a tear to my eye."

Jiraiya scowled "Honestly, I wished I never had to see your face again."

Naruto looked to Kabuto and saw that he was wearing an Oto hitai-ate "So I was right... You are working for him."

Kabuto adjusted his glasses "You don't seem surprised Naruto-Kun."

Naruto shrugged "Meh, I kinda figured it out during the exams. I was even the one that warned Hokage-Jiji about Orichimaru-teme's plan and that you were a spy ."

Orochimaru scowled at hearing this "Oh? So it was you who made it harder to kill the old man?"

Naruto gave a mock bow to them "Why yes. As Konoha's resident prank master, it is my duty to cause a headache to anyone and everyone within those lovely walls~." He stood back up and smirked, "And saving Hokage-Jiji was something I would have done either way."

"Naruto..."

Naruto looked behind him to see Jiraiya walking forward.

"Leave Orochimaru to me."

Naruto wanted to argue but he remembered the last time that he faced off with the snake. He nodded and walked back to Tsunade and Shizune

Jiraiya faced off with Orochimaru who had Kabuto by his side. Jiraiya knew he had to use what he could to finish off the snake so he brought his thumb to his mouth.

Orochimaru, seeing this, did the same.

Both did the hand signs and slammed their hands onto the ground while shouting out **"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"**

A large puff of smoke appeared around Orochimaru and Kabuto and they were now standing on two massive brown snakes.

Jiraiya was enveloped by a puff of smoke but unfortunately, instead of the large toad that he was aiming for, Gamakichi appeared.

Gamakichi waved at the people around him "Yo! What's up?"

Jiraiya was in a panic "Gamakichi! Where's your old man?!"

Gamakichi shrugged "Back home. Where else would he be?"

Jiraiya shook his head as he used the blood from his already bleeding thumb to try summoning again**"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"** He was hoping to summon Gamabunta as he tried to focus more chakra into the jutsu but unfortunately, he was unsuccessful again...

Out of the smoke game another small toad but this time it was a yellow toad with some orange highlights. This toad wore a deep blue vest and looked more jovial than Gamakichi "Hi everyone."

Jiraiya slumped as he realized that this was not going to be of any help

Gamakichi hopped to the other toad and waved "hey Gamatatsu. Where's pop?"

Gamatatsu smiled at "Oh, hey Gamakichi. I dunno."

Orochimaru was smirking at the sight "It would seem that Tsunade did something to him... Well, that should make this easier!" With a silent command, the snakes coiled up and lunged at the group.

Everyone saw the coming attack and jumped out of the way with Jiraiya grabbing the toads and Shizune grabbing Tsunade and Tonton.

The snake's attack caused a large plume of dirt to fly in the air as well as chunks of earth.

Each of the shinobi used the chunks of earth to maneuver in the air.

Naruto pushed off one and was in the middle of the air until out of the dust cloud came the open mouth of one of the snakes. He looked at the open mouth with a deadpan expression "I'm going to kill that teme." He then found himself being eaten by the snake.

Jiraiya saw this happen and grew worried "NARUTO!" he landed on the ground, putting Gamakichi and Gamatatsu down before he went through another set of hand signs **"Doton: Yomi Numa"**

Orochimaru stumbled and looked down to see that both of his summoned snakes were stuck in a mud pit

Jiraiya grimaced as he jumped onto the midsection of the snake "Damn it, I still can't focus my chakra!" Before he could do anything else he felt the snake begin to inflate. Sensing danger he jumped off.

The snake screeched in pain as he inflated more. As it screeched, flames could be seen spewing out of its mouth. It continued to inflate until it finally exploded in blood, guts, and flames.

Jumping out of the gore was Naruto who was now covered in snake remains "I am no one's lunch and I never want to see the inside of another animal EVER again!"

Tsunade who was still in shock due to her blood phobia started to get out of her haze and stared at the boy that was making his way to them. 'He shows no fear of being in a battle with them ...why?'

Orochimaru turned to Kabuto who had jumped from his snake to his and gave his order "Dispose of that boy, Kabuto. He's already a risk at this age and I don't want him to become an even bigger problem later." 'It would be unwise to let him live for the Akatsuki to get their hands on him...'

Kabuto nodded and jumped down towards Naruto.

Jiraiya saw Kabuto and knew where he was going but he honestly had faith that Naruto would be able to pull out of this fight well enough. Right now he needed to focus on Orochimaru.

Orochimaru smirked as he turned to look at Jiraiya who was standing on the midsection of the remaining snake. "Well, my old friend...shall we get down to business?"

Jiraiya got into his stance "Fine with me!"

* * *

~with Naruto~

Naruto saw Kabuto heading his way. He smiled as he wanted to beat Kabuto ever since he met him during the Chunin exams. But before he could make a move he saw Shizune jump in front of him.

Shizune pulled her sleeve up to reveal a senbon shooter on her forearm. Pulling the wire to fire, she sent a few senbon needles towards Kabuto

Kabuto merely sidestepped the senbon and channeled chakra into his palm. He moved forward and struck Shizune in the stomach.

Shizune gritted her teeth from the impact but chose not to let this opportunity slip by. She opened her mouth and spoke **"Dokugiri!"** Out of her mouth came a purple mist of poison that enveloped Kabuto.

Naruto was impressed at what Shizune could do, but he shook himself out of it as he began to remove his bracers and greaves. He was glad he got them off as he saw Kabuto jump out of the cloud and kick Shizune away. "My turn!" He summoned a clone that went to catch Shizune while he charged Kabuto.

Kabuto saw Naruto coming and smirked. He landed on the ground and ducked under Naruto's kick but what he did not expect was a clone to be behind him and give him a rising kick. Kabuto felt his jaw crack from the force of the kick but he didn't get to think of it much as he was suddenly kicked in the stomach as another clone that was behind the first clone used the first clone as a springboard and while Kabuto started to rise from the first kick, he was kicked in the stomach by the second clone

Naruto watched as Kabuto was sent flying until he righted himself. "I thought you would be tougher. Guess you're all talk aren't ya?"

Kabuto wiped the blood from his chin as he smirked and adjusted his glasses "I'm impressed... I wasn't expecting that, but then again, from what I've seen during the exams, I shouldn't be. You are just full of surprises..." He channeled chakra into both his palms and got ready.

Naruto stood straight and extended his nails into claws as his two clones stood at his side a bit more than an arms-length away "And I have a few more tricks I want to use!"

"Oh? I doubt you have anything that could surprise me."

"HOW ABOUT THIS!" He channeled wind chakra into his claws and lifted both hands in the air while his clones took a deep breath. Both clones let out their demon fire while he Brought his claws down in an X formation and sent blades of wind forward. The blades of wind caught the fire and now instead of blades of wind, they became fast-moving blades of fire.

Kabuto's eyes shot open at the attack and had to use all his strength to jump out of the way. He was fortunate to avoid it and was astonished at what the attack did. It created a trench in its path and it kept going until it impacted a boulder, which exploded in flames... The cuts in the ground were glowing red hot from the heat. He focused forward as Naruto popped up in front of him. He avoided a few punches and grabbed the kick aimed at him. He gritted his teeth from the force but smirked as he pressed his palm on the thigh and Achilles tendon. He then kicked Naruto away and landed on the ground as he shook his hand 'The force behind his attacks is impressive but nothing I can't handle...' He looked to the fallen Naruto and smirked as he saw him holding his leg "I have severed the nerves and tendons in that leg. You won't be able to use that anytime soon."

"You are way too cocky."

Kabuto felt a kick to the back of his head that was hard enough to crack his skull. 'Danmn it! I forgot about his clones. I was careless..' He was able to turn and land on his feet but he was shocked again when he saw that the Naruto he crippled went up in smoke.

"Stop looking away!"

Kabuto found himself being hugged from both sides by two clones of the boy

The clone on Kabuto's right smiled "You're so sure of yourself that you make it easy to surprise you..."

Kabuto channeled chakra into both palms and was about to dispell them, but he didn't get the chance as both clones took a deep breath and sent out a sonic roar, point-blank, into his ears "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

The original Naruto watch with a smile on his face "Since he joined Oto and likes sound so much I gave him a sound he will never forget." He wanted to finish this fight and get rid of Kabuto so he brought up both palms.

Tsunade was getting out of her fear and was now stunned at the skill Naruto was showing. Her eyes grew wider as she saw what he was doing.

Kabuto thrashed around from the sonic roar and threw off both clones as he clutched his bleeding ears. He could feel a good amount pouring passed his hands and down his face. Due to losing his hearing he spoke in a loud shout. "I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS!" He was focusing his energy on healing his wounds and shattered eardrums. He squinted as he lifted his head but he saw nothing but blue and red

"GO TO HELL!" Naruto slammed both a normal blue orb made from his human chakra, in his left hand, and a red ord made form his demon chakra, in his right, into Kabuto **"DOUBLE RASENGAN!"**

Kabuto was blasted away from the attacks and once his back hit a boulder he was pushed so hard that it shattered and he continued to fly for a bit. Once he stopped, he didn't get up.

Naruto smirked as he stood up straight and began to walk back to Tsunade and Shizune.

Tsunade was speechless at what she had seen. This boy had shown skill beyond his years. She didn't know what to say as she looked up to him from her kneeling position.

Naruto lifted a finger and brought it to her chest. Extending a finger he pressed it to the necklace and looked her in the eye with a cheeky grin on his face "Looks like I win the bet, Baa-chan."

For a brief second Naruto was replaced with an image of Nawaki. She couldn't help but smile at the boy "Looks like it, gaki..."

* * *

Orochimaru had witnessed what had happened and he was not pleased. 'He shows such skill at this age? He cannot be allowed to continue on. So if I kill him….right NOW' He pushed Jiraiya's next punch to the side and flew (honestly it looks like he flys on the damn snake but I'm guessing it's just a low jump) off the side of the snake towards the boy.

Jiraiya righted himself and saw that Orochimaru was heading their way "Damn it!" He went after Orochimaru as fast as he could in order to stop him. Unfortunately, Orochimaru spat out his tongue and wrapped it around his ankle. "Shit!" He was sent flying into the ground, creating a Jiraiya shaped crater.

Orochimaru made his way toward the boy, opening his mouth as a snakehead came out and spat out a blade, aiming at Naruto's heart from the back.

Tsunade was unaware of this as she could not see Orochimaru coming past Naruto, however, Shizune did notice it...

"Look out!"

Naruto's face grew serious as he had felt the greed and killing intent heading his way. He turned to see Orochimaru coming his way with a blade coming out of his mouth.

Tsunade, once seeing this, acted on instinct and pushed Naruto out of the way. She gritted her teeth as she took the blade in the stomach.

Orochimaru was stunned to see Tsunade take the attack that was aimed for the boy.

Tsunade gritted her teeth from the blade in her stomach but more than anything she felt anger. She felt angry at the pale Orochimaru for attacking Naruto... Something about the boy reminded her of her younger brother Nawaki, and she couldn't help but feel somewhat protective of that little reminder. She lifted her head to glare at Orochimaru as she undid the seal on her forehead. The purple diamond that was in the middle of her forehead disappeared and black markings began to show on her face. "Don't you dare touch him!" Pulling back her fist with a roar of rage, she punched Orochimaru hard enough to send him flying.

Orochimaru flipped in the air and landed on his feet close to his remaining snake. Unfortunately, he had to jump to his right when Jiraiya came down with a **Rasengan**.

Jiraiya looked up as he saw Orochimaru get away from him. He felt that it was time to end this fight. He was about to bite his thumb and do his summoning but Naruto dropped next to him and spoke up

"Why don't you let me do it? That poison is still messing up your control."

Jiraiya hated this, but he felt that he would need the chakra for the upcoming battle so he nodded his head.

Naruto looked over to Tsunade who was looking at him curiously. While looking at her he bit his thumb and she gained a look of understanding as she did the same.

Orochimaru had seen what was coming and although he did not expect much from the boy, he did not want to risk being underprepared. He bit his own thumb ready for what was to come...

Naruto, Tsunade, and Orochimaru did their hand signs before slamming their hands on the ground as they shouted: **"KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!"** Three massive puffs of smoke appeared at the brown snake that Orochimaru summoned before was flattened as the new summons came into view: Gamabunta the Toad boss, Katsuya the boss summon of the slugs, and Manda the boss summons of the snakes.

Naruto jumped off the toad boss and landed in between Gamabunta and Katsuya. "Ok, Ero-sennin and Baa-chan can deal with the snake now. But….."

Gamabunta looked to his left to see Katsuya and before glaring at the snake in front of him **"Well, never thought I would see all three of us together again...I think I'm gonna cry."**

Jiraiya chuckled at this "A little shocking to me as well but this is just a going away party. Let's make it one to remember."

Tsunade glared at the snake and his summons "Katsuya! This is a fight to the death, can I count on you?"

**"Of course, Tsunade-sama"**

Manda was not happy at being summoned as he always considered it to be a waste of his time **"you've got a lot of nerve summoning me! You better have my sacrifices ready when this is over!"**

"Kukuku you shall have two hundred sacrifices as I will be in a more generous mood once this battle is over as I shall be removing a few nuisances."

Shizune was awestruck at seeing the three-way deadlock of titans. "These three haven't been summoned together in years and now here they are, facing off against each other..."

"Oink oink oink!"

"Hey whats Naruto doing?" spoke Gamakichi as he pointed at Naruto who had not moved from in between the toad and slug summons.

Gamatatsu smiled as he waved "Oh. hey Naruto!"

Shizune looked down at the toads and pig and saw that they were gesturing to Naruto. She panicked as she saw him in the middle of the battle zone "Naruto-Kun!"

Naruto held up the tiger hand sign as he channeled his chakra. He lowered the hand sign until it was in front of his stomach. "Well, here goes nothing!" his hand glowed with red chakra as he slammed it on the ground causing a large poof of smoke to appear

The three Sanin looked on in curiosity at the new poof of smoke.

Jiraiya was intrigued at this "Wonder who he summoned. Gamaken or Gamahiro? Either one will help end this fight."

As the smoke cleared everyone was scared stiff

**"RRRRROOOOAAAARRRRR"** Nine red tails swung around, clearing the smoke and soon appeared the Kyuubi, in all its might and glory with Naruto standing on his head.

Naruto took a deep breath to try and relax "*gulp* Ok... glad that it worked."

**"Whether it worked or not, we can't keep this up so we are going to end this quickly."**

Naruto nodded as he already felt weak and was sweating a bit "Ok Rama-tou-chan." Taking another deep breath, he got ready.

Jiraiya was scared stiff at the sight of the Kyuubi so close to him. He would have told Gamabunta to jump away but he saw Naruto standing on the head to the Kyuubi and after he remembered that he was told that they have a good relationship, he calmed himself down a bit. He could feel Gamabunta tense up but he looked down at him "Easy Gamabunta, focus on the snake for now. I think the Kyuubi will be on our side for now."

**"You must be out of your mind! You want me to work alongside that fox!?"**

Kurama growled as he looked towards the toad **"Right now you are not my enemy, so you will help my kit in finishing off this snake. After that, I don't want to fight alongside you again!"**

Naruto sat down and patted his father on the head "Easy Tou-chan we don't have time for this so play nice…...please?"

Kurama grumbled as he focused back on the snake. 'Why does my kit have to be so damn persuasive?'

Tsunade was shocked at the sight in front of her. Here was the strongest of the bijuu and Naruto was standing on top of it like it was a normal summon and showing no fear whatsoever. What shocked her more was what she had heard him say 'Tou-chan? What does he mean tou-chan!?' She looked towards Orochimaru and could see not only shock but fear as well. From the distance, she was sure that he had not heard what Naruto said since she could barely hear it and she was much closer than Orochimaru was.

Before anything else could be said Kurama roared again and charged forward.

Orochimaru didn't even have to give a command as Manda had swerved out of the way of the claw coming down at him. He then wrapped around the fox's torso and went to bite on its head.

Kurama grabbed the snake's head stopping its advance and roared in its face before squeezing tight.

Getting out of their shock Gamabunta pulled out his blade and charged at Manda, he pulled back ready to swipe at the snake just above the Kyuubi's hand.

Out of the corner of his eye, Manda saw the incoming attack and moved his tail to swipe the toad off course.

Gamabunta took the hit but shifted his blade for an overhead strike

Manda knew that if he didn't do anything he would die, so he uncurled himself from the Kyuubi and maneuvered his body to avoid the overhead strike. Now he had to get out of the grip of the fox so he swung his tail at its head.

Kurama seeing this, turned his head and bit down on the tail hard.

Naruto took this chance to breathe out his demonic flame at the head of the snake.

Orochimaru jumped back a bit to avoid the flames and watched as the flames left a slight burn on the snake but it was superficial damage.

Kurama let the tail go and threw the snake away before breathing out his own flame at the snake.

Naruto gave a deadpan expression at seeing the size difference between his flame and Kurama's "...Show off." No, he was not pouting...!

Kurama smirk at this and looked to the flame. He saw the silhouette of the snake but once the flames parted he saw it was the snakeskin **"Slippery little serpent...!"** Looking down he saw the earth begin to rumble and something shoot out. Grabbing it he saw that it was the tail. For a second he smirked at seeing the bite holes he left behind but when he heard something burst from the ground behind him.

Manda went for another bite at the fox and felt that he had the chance of getting a strike in but he had to stop his attack as a spray of acid flew between him and the fox. Turning to look, he saw Katsuya readying another spray, but he was suddenly hit in the face by one of the fox's tails.

Katsuya waited until Manda was sent away from the Kyuubi before spraying another glob of acid.

Manda unable to fully dodge the acid was hit on the side **"ARGH!"**

Orochimaru felt that he was in the middle of a losing battle. He was not only facing against his two teammates but the damn Kyuubi as well! Seeing a shadow from above, he looked up and jumped away from Manda just in time to avoid Gamabunta landing on the snakes neck and thrusting his sword through Manda's mouth

Gamabunta jumped off the snake and landed next to Kyuubi and Katsuya.

Jiraiya looked to Naruto and the Kyuubi "Mind giving us some fire you two?"

Naruto nodded as Kurama grunted, **"Don't think you can give me orders!"**

Jiraiya chuckled as he looked down "Time for some oil Bunta!"

**"You got it!"** Gamabunta began to inflate and prepare to fire.

Naruto looked down at Kurama "*pant pant* *wheeze* O-one last attack tou-chan..." He began to channel chakra into his throat and took a deep breath.

**"Good cause you can't handle any more."** Kurama took a deep breath of his own and waited for a second.

On an unspoken command, all three launched their attack. Gamabunta spewing out toad oil, Kurama breathing out his demonic flame along with Naruto's. Once the three connected it was like all sound had disappeared and suddenly a massive wall of flame appeared and exploded as it flew towards Manda.

Everyone covered their eyes at the brightness of the fire.

Once the attack was done, a massive trench was the only thing left along with some scattered fires and Gamabunta's sword that was glowing from the heat.

Jiraiya noticed the lack of ashes or any sign of Manda "He must have gone back to his own realm before the attack hit." looking around he also noticed that Orochimaru was nowhere to be seen, along with Kabuto's body "Damn it! He got away..."

Shizune, Tonton, Gamakichi, and Gamatatsu were stunned at the battle they had just witnessed.

Naruto was wobbling on top of Kurama's head "Tou…..chan…..I don't think I can handle…...anymore."

Kurama grew extremely worried as he lowered his head to the ground and picked up his kit with his hand and put him on the ground **"Stay strong kit."** and with that, Kurama disappeared back into Naruto.

Naruto felt slightly better now that Kurama was back in him but he still felt extremely tired.

Tsunade jumped off Katsuya and went over to Naruto. She pressed her head to his chest and was thankful to hear a heartbeat, albeit a little slow. She channeled medical chakra into her palms and became to work on healing him.

Shizune slowly made her way to the two as she was still stunned at what happened.

Jiraiya made his way to them as Gamabunta was looking at his sword and thinking of a way to cool it down. Once Jiraiya made it to them he got a glare from Tsunade and he put his hands up in surrender.

"You better start talking!"

Jiraiya felt like he might die if he doesn't answer soon but knew that it would need to wait until later "W-we can talk once we get back to town!"

* * *

End of chapter

Now before anyone says anything this does not mean that Naruto is getting a fox summons as a secondary. He just pulled Kurama out to fight. I WILL explain how in a later chapter but for those who have seen the show and movies, you should know that this was possible to do as it was done before

I need to address a few reviewers

Guest (Tarask): that would have been a very good summon for her as I could see her use it. However, in an earlier chapter, I have given Ino a phobia of swarms in general and what gave her that phobia was a beehive. So, unfortunately, she would not be able to use it at all and would avoid summoning them, although I think it would be cool to see Ino ride into battle on a massive Bee….give me some time and I might do that…..maybe. It sounds amazing

Redan01: although I am the master of this fic( :P ) I won't be doing that as it would be kinda out of nowhere. Interesting Idea though

Dragon man 180: yes they don't. Right NOW they don't.

SkylerHollow: I had the flaw already in my head for its usage on other people. I understood that without it, it would be so op and not considered a basic jutsu. You can kinda see hints of the flaw in earlier chapters like with Zabuza. Why else would it take a while for him to use it on the nin if it was an easy switch? I just never got the chance to really explain my thoughts without spoilers.

Now for the summons for Ino and Hinata. I have had MANY suggestions on what they should get and damn me cause I can picture them all in my head. Hinata has a lot of large feline summons, which makes sense since later in life she gets chakra lion strikes, and a few random ones. Ino has a bunch of insect summons, a plant one and interestingly a couple of boar requests. So I must make a poll cause I honestly can't decide this poll will also have the choice for Naruto's secondary summon (already have an idea on how they get the scroll so I just need the animal). By the time you read this part…..the poll will already be up on my profile. Please select ONE for each (maximum 3) and if you have any more suggestions for Naruto let me know and I will add it as soon as I read the review (most likely).

Please read, favorite, follow and review…...and VOTE


	40. Heading Back

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

**"Demon/Summon speech"**

**'Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts'**

**Jutsu name**

(author comment)

_flashback/memory_

~locations and transitions~

Beta read by: Irusha the Kitsune

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

Chapter 40: Heading back

Tsunade was tapping her foot as she glared at Jiraiya, who was sweating bullets. He was already running through mental gymnastics, trying to figure out a way to escape should Tsunade lose her temper.

Jiraiya didn't know how much he should reveal, seeing as he didn't know much about the relation between Naruto and the Kyuubi himself. He already knew that the Kyuubi had saved the boy's life and that they had a close relationship but that was about it. He cleared his throat and shakingly asked: "W-well what do you want to know?" He spoke softly as for one he didn't want to wake the boy up as he was sleeping in the bed that was directly behind him... And he didn't want to set off the clearly frustrated and angry woman.

A tick mark formed on her head, and it was clear she was dying to punch Jiraiya through the wall. But first... first, she was getting answers. _Then _she would be punching him through the wall. "I want to know why the damn Kyuubi itself was summoned by the boy and helped us when facing the snake. And I want to know why he called it '_tou-san_'!"

Jiraiya held his hands up in surrender "Your guess is as good as mine! All I know is that he has a good relationship with it..." He wanted to tell her the other thing he knew about Naruto but he felt that this was something that Naruto had to tell her himself because if he told her... He knew he might actually die.

Shizune was examining Naruto to make sure that he was ok but during her examination, she felt that something was off about him. Her medical jutsu could tell that his blood was flowing but his muscles felt like they were pumped full of chakra, so much so that she thought for a second that they were actually made of chakra. She shook away the thought as it was completely ludicrous to have anything made of chakra. The only thing close to that were the bijuu themselves as they were beings comprised of chakra. She thought that it might be because he was the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi.

Tsunade sighed as she sat down in a chair and glared at Jiraiya "You two better tell me what it is your hiding as I am taking the job as Hokage."

Jiraiya smiled after hearing this "You're taking the job?"

Tsunade sighed as she looked towards Naruto and saw the glint of the necklace that he now wore "Yeah...I am."

* * *

~two days later~

Tsunade was tapping her foot as she stared down at the boy who was still sleeping but now he was sleeping as any other restless kid would. Blanket kicked off drool coming from his mouth and he was hugging the pillow as if it was his lover. She turned to glare at Jiraiya "How long does it take for this brat to wake up? He should have woken up yesterday with how fast he seemed to recover from everything."

Jiraiya chuckled a bit as he thought about what he had to do during their travels. He had learned that sometimes Naruto would sleep deeper than the dead and no matter what he did the boy would not wake up. He remembered that Naruto had told him that the Kyuubi can be like that sometimes too. 'Must be a trait for being a tailed beast….or maybe the kid is just lazy.' He walked forward and pulled out a scroll from his pocket.

Tsunade would have asked him what he was about to do but she, Shizune and Tonton grew confused when they saw him unseal a hot bowl of ramen.

Jiraiya brought to bowl to Naruto's face and waited.

Naruto's nose twitched as the smell hit him and he lifted a hand to reach for where the smell was coming from.

Jiraiya moved the bowl out of his reach before bringing it back to his face. He did this a few times until Naruto moved his head to follow the movement of the bowl. Jiraiya moved the bowl back slowly, getting Naruto's head to follow. He kept pulling back until Naruto fell off the bed.

Tsunade and Shizune thought that the boy would have woken up from that but they both heard a snore and sweatdropped at how deeply asleep he was in.

Naruto got to his feet and zombied his way to the smell.

Jiraiya placed the bowl onto the ground and sat down and waited

Naruto sleepwalked to the bowl and began to eat it.

Everyone apart from Jiraiya just stared dumbfounded at how the boy ate in his sleep. They watched as the boy finished eating and slowly opened his eyes.

Naruto looked around sleepily and rubbed his eye with the back of his hand. "...Morning."

Tsunade and Shizune's sweatdrop doubled in size.

Jiraiya sighed as he spoke, "Gaki, get ready, we are heading back to Konoha."

Naruto groaned as he sat on the ground "Can't we stay in the hotel for a few more days..? I just woke up...!" Naruto decided to unleash the most powerful jutsu, ever, to plead with Jiraiya... The feared **Koinu-kyu no Jutsu!** (Puppy dog eyes jutsu)

Jiraiya sighed as he shook his head "Naruto, you've been asleep for a few days already. It's time to go home, or do you not want to get back to those lovely ladies you have waiting for you...?" He finished his sentence with a perverted giggle which promptly earned him a punch to the face from Naruto.

Naruto was now wide awake and was glaring at Jiraiya "If I find out that you used either of them in any of your books, I'll make sure that you never get to see any woman again without thinking of Guy-sensei in a bikini!"

Jiraiya shivered as for a brief second he remembered when Naruto actually made him see that. He was pale white for a week because of it. He pulled his face away from the fist as blood came from his nose "I-I promise I won't!"

Naruto nodded before getting up "Good. Let's go home." Naruto began to make his way to the door of the room but was stopped by Tsunade...

"Hold on! You still have some things to answer Gaki."

Naruto looked back towards Tsunade and Shizune. He tilted his head in confusion "Like what?"

Tsunade was now serious as she looked into his eyes "What your relationship is with the Kyuubi."

Naruto just shrugged his shoulders "That's my secret. And I don't wanna tell you."

Jiraiya put his hand on Naruto's shoulder "Kid, she's taking the job as the new Hokage."

Naruto looked up at him in shock before looking at her. He slumped as he realized he had to tell someone else his secret "Can't I tell her on the road, away from town...? Besides, she isn't Hokage yet!"

Jiraiya sighed as he crossed his arms "It's best to just get it out of the way. So you might as well tell her now, or you could just show them."

Naruto glared at Jiraiya "My clothes don't expand with me, Ero-sennin!"

Jiraiya looked sheepish as he rubbed his head "Right, sorry. I forgot about that but you should still tell her."

Naruto groaned as he thought about what he should do. He knew that he HAS to tell her since she is going to be the new Hokage but he really didn't want to tell his secret to anyone. He thought about this for a minute before just accepting the fact that he had to show her. He removed his jacket and took off his shirt. He didn't have to worry about his bracers and greaves since he wasn't wearing them at the moment.

Tsunade quirked an eyebrow at this action as she looked to Jiraiya, looking for an explanation.

Jiraiya looked at her and said, "Just... wait for it."

Tsunade and Shizune were just confused more by the answer. They grew more confused when Naruto took off his sash, Anbu boots, and pants leaving him in only his boxers. Tsunade was growing impatient at what this could be and all she was seeing now was a boy in his underwear "Now mind telling us what you're doing?"

Naruto rolled his shoulders before saying "It'll be easier if I just show you my biggest secret." He then fell to be on all fours and began his _shift_.

Tsunade and Shizune grew wide-eyed when they saw Naruto begin to get bigger. They watched in stunned silence as the boy was growing in size and they could see small bits of fur growing from all over his body. They were a bit unnerved when they heard some bones shifting but it wasn't anything that they hadn't heard before as they have had to re-set bones throughout their medical career.

Naruto's snout began to move forward as he grit his teeth and growled. He felt his teeth begin to sharpen, forcing him to open his maw so they could grow without one of them cutting something in his mouth. His ears grew in length and he honestly wouldn't have noticed if it weren't for the fact that they hit the top of his head when they reach full length. He felt his claws grow out and curled his fingers, leaving marks on the wooden floor. He felt pressure in his boxers and quickly shoved them off, revealing his six tails as they sprouted out and swayed back and forth

Tonton grew scared as she hid behind Shizune's leg and continued to watch in horrific fascination.

Naruto's shift had finished and he shook himself before letting out a sigh of relief. He looked down as he felt the necklace still around his neck

Tsunade and Shizune were now on guard as standing before them, was a six tailed fox that had a black pattern on it.

Naruto looked to Jiraiya and glared with his blue slitted eyes.

For a second the women thought that he was going to attack the man, especially when the fox opened its mouth but what happened next stumped them.

"Happy now?"

Tsunade and Shizune looked at Jiraiya in confusion and grew more confused when they saw that he was just standing there with his arms crossed.

Jiraiya nodded "You have no idea. I still remember how it used to be." he shivered as he remembered the screams of agony.

Naruto sat down as he looked to the woman that were giving him a dumbfounded look. He lifted his front right paw and gave a wave "Yo."

* * *

~later on the road~

The group was at the moment walking out of town in the direction of Konoha. Naruto had finished his tale on how he became what he is. He felt a lot better being out of his shift but he still had to walk on two feet while henged.

Jiraiya was mulling over one piece of new info he learned "So you consider the Kyuubi your dad?"

Naruto was walking with his hand behind his head as he was looking at the sky "Duh. He was always there for me. He raised me, taught me how to speak, played with me, trained me and was always there when I felt bad!"

Jiraiya nodded "Sounds like what a father should do... Still hard to wrap my head around though."

Tsunade nodded "Yeah... To think that the strongest of the nine had a soft spot for kids, huh?"

Naruto smiled, he loved his father and wouldn't change a thing. Sure he could have done without the dying part but it all worked out in the end!

**"Glad to have you too, kit."**

'Thanks, Rama-tou-chan.'

Shizune asked something that was bugging her after she heard a bit of the story "How have you been able to maintain your henge for so long? Surely someone would have hit you at some point."

Naruto looked to Shizune with a smile "I practiced the **Kawarimi **a lot. It's become my most useful jutsu apart from the **Kage bunshin**. I made sure to always be careful around everyone."

Shizune nodded "It's impressive how you use those Jutsu. You're very... creative with them!"

Naruto puffed out his chest in a bit of feigned vanity "That's right, I'm awesome!"

Tsunade shook her head before something came to mind "I think it's a good thing that this was kept a secret. If other villages find this out they might try to replicate what happened to you."

Everyone grew grim as they thought about this.

Naruto shook his head "It's not like it would do any good. I became like this because tou-chan WANTED to save me. It isn't like I took anything from him, he just pumped his chakra into me, trying to save me and then this happened. He said that this has never happened before and it might never happen again."

Tsunade nodded in agreement but still held a stern expression "That doesn't mean that the other villages won't try. Everyone but the ones you have told think that there are only NINE tailed beasts in the world but with you, there are now TEN!"

Naruto raised his arm in the air as he declared nonchalantly "Yay, I'm special." After he said this, something came to his mind. He looked to Tsunade and asked, "Hey Baa-chan, I have a few things I want to ask you for."

Tsunade grew a tick mark n her forehead but kept her fists at her side "And what would they be?" she asked in a forced smile

Naruto ignored the feeling of anger coming off her as he didn't care about it "Can you heal a couple of people that ended up in the hospital? I have a friend that was hurt really bad and wanted to know if you could fix him up? My sensei also ended up there from some genjutsu."

Jiraiya piped up here "There is also his teammate that was hit by the same thing."

Naruto sighed as he nodded his head "Yeah... him too."

Tsunade nodded her head after hearing the request "I'll look at them when we get to Konoha."

Naruto smiled before he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head "I have another request."

Tsunade felt like she would need a drink whenever she had to deal with this brat "What is it?"

Naruto smiled as he looked up at her.

* * *

~a week later, Konoha gate~

Izumo and Kotetsu were sitting at their posts as they played cards to pass the time.

Izumo laid down his hand to show a royal flush "I win again."

Kotetsu sighed as he put his cards down and leaned on his hand "How many times have we played this game? I kinda want something interesting to ha…" he didn't get to finish his statement as Izumo put a hand over his mouth

"Please don't finish that statement." He removed his hand from Kotetsu's mouth before leaning back "Last time you said that we were attacked by Oto and Suna!"

Kotetsu shook his head as he turned his head to look down the road "Oh come on. There isn't anything nearby to show that anything interesting is about to happen!"

As he said this, something was sent flying towards the gate and lowered into the ground and leaving a trench that moved a bit passed the gate.

Kotetsu and Izumo jumped from their poss and slowly made their way to the object that was sent flying. Once they made it to the endpoint they tried to look through the dust cloud. They were shocked to see what it was... It was Naruto

Naruto was laying on his back groaning as he slowly tried to open is eyes

Izumo was the first to get out of his shock "Naruto? What the hell happened!? Were you attacked!?"

Naruto looked up and gave a weak smile "Oh, hey guys! It's been a while. And no I wasn't actually attacked."

Kotetsu jumped into the crater that Naruto was in and knelt down to the kid "Than what the hell happened?"

Naruto slowly got into a sitting position "I bit off more than I could chew. That woman has a stronger punch than Ero-sennin." He slumped down as he was slowly losing consciousness "That's the last time I ask for her to help in my endurance training…." he fell unconscious as he felt his ribs slowly heal

* * *

End of chapter

This chapter is short because I wanted to end it when they got back to Konoha. I was not going to put in the filler episode about the debt collector (I think it was on their way back).

before anything I want to let you guys know that chapters will be coming out slowly as I'm sure some of you know. classes have started and they will be my main focus until I can get back into the rhythm of it. stuff like this makes me wish I could use the shadow clone jutsu

Ok, something I want to bring up. I'm thinking of changing a couple of the rookie 11's pairings. I mean I already changed who Sakura will end up with so I felt like changing a few others. I have a couple already in my head, namely Shikamaru and Kiba. I felt like pairing Kiba with Temari and Shikamaru could end up with Samui. Shikamaru and Samui came to mind when I thought about the lazy genius with the "Cool" beauty. When that came to mind I thought who I would pair Temari with and then I remembered that Kiba had an interaction that could be built with her. What do you guys think and if I change the pairings who should end up with who? If you have suggestions let me know and give me a reason for it. Choji is one I think of keeping as is but I am not sure since I have seen no interactions between him and Karui

Also, I find it interesting that a lot of you like the fight scenes that I write since I always feel like I won't be able to make a good fight scene but with all the positive reviews on it makes me think I am doing something right

Ok for the voting results (poll is still ongoing)

1rst place for Naruto: Foxes - 23 votes

1rst place for Ino: Cats - 12 votes

1rst place for Hinata: Lions - 9 votes

2nd place for Naruto: Wolf - 9 votes

2nd place for Ino: plant/butterfly - 6 votes

2nd place for Hinata: Tiger -6 votes

Honestly, I was hoping for some more recommendations for Naruto and maybe some votes going to other animals for him but oh well. The poll will be up for a while. A couple more weeks before I close it so maybe the results may change. I will let you guys know that the summons will not be Gamabunta size so no super large summons other than the three will show up.

Post note: someone gave me a new animal for Hinata. I was given Otters for her so it has been added to the poll

Also, one more thing I want to add to the summon factor for them. Two words: Sage Mode. maybe that will get some more votes on them and maybe change the ratios of votes or get some more recommendations on new animal summons

also, sorry that the chapters have been getting shorter but they should be getting longer with another big event coming up

one last thing, Itachi: should I keep him alive or allow him the peace he wants

Please read, favorite, follow, and review


	41. Fixing up the fallen

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

**"****Demon/Summon speech"**

**'****Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts' **

**Jutsu name**

(author comment)

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

Chapter 41: Fixing up the fallen

Sakura was making her way to the training field as she and Haku had a training session planned and she didn't want to be late. She thought about the progress she made ever since Haku had joined the village. She had improved in leaps and bounds thanks to him, but the one she was most thankful to was Naruto. During the Chunin exams, she had thought about where she was before Naruto had thrown the truth into her face. "I used to be so useless to everyone back then. Why did I become a shinobi in the first place?".

**'****Cha, we wasted so much time chasing Sasuke-san! What were we thinking!?' **

Sakura had to sigh as she knew that she had no one to blame but herself for how she had acted to everyone but Sasuke. This had brought up another thought 'why would Naruto even care about what I did? He could have just let me stay the way I am and just leave me to die on a mission. From the way I acted, he should hate me and just leave me behind. But then again, I was on his team so maybe it was more on obligation than any real care.' she was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't even hear when someone was calling her until it was right next to her.

"Hey Forehead!"

Sakura jumped at the shout and turned her head to see that Ino was next to her. "what is it Pig?"

Ino put her hands on her hips as she sighed in exasperation "I was calling you for the last five minutes. You were so lost in thought that I was almost expecting you to run into that electric pole." she said as she pointed at the one that was a few feet behind them.

Sakura shook her head as she began to walk again "I was just thinking about some things."

Ino was now walking with Sakura on the pinkette's left "oh like what?"

"Just ….I was thinking how I did in the Chunin exams."

Ino thought about the Chunin exams as well and grimaced because of several things that happened during that time. She hated saying this but she spoke anyway "at least you were able to get a tie from your match. I couldn't even put up a fight in mine." she slumped a bit from thinking back to how terrible she did in her match against Shino.

Sakura patted Ino on the shoulder "you were just matched poorly. It's not your fault."

Ino felt a bit better, but than she remembered the other more impactful events that happened during the exams. She thought back to when she entered Naruto's mind, seeing what it was like inside and what Naruto looked like and the invasion, how during what she thought to be her last moments alive, how she and Hinata had told Naruto how they felt about him. She felt both scared about it and felt a bit of elation at seeing how important the boy was to her and Hinata. She came back to reality to continue speaking to Sakura "thanks Forehead. By the way, where are you going?"

Sakura smiled as she looked ahead "I am meeting with Haku for another training session. We agreed that we would always meet on Friday afternoon to train together."

Ino's eyes grew wide when she heard this but then gained a devilish knowing smirk. "So you and Haku-san will be all alone in a training field huh?"

Sakura looked at ino with a small bit of confusion in the way Ino was saying it

Ino continued on as she tapped her chin with her finger "just the two of you with no supervision and far away from anyone else. Sounds to me that you are planning something other than training."

Sakura blushed hard at what Ino was insinuating before she shouted in embarrassment "I-It's not like that! W-w-we are just going to practice my senbon throwing! there 's nothing going on between me and Haku!"

Ino looked at Sakura from the corner of her eye as she smiled "oh, only 'Haku' huh."

Sakura blushed as she realized that she said Haku's name without any honorific. She scrambled to think of something to counter and it came to her. She spoke out in a panicked rush to divert the embarrassment "you do the same thing with Naruto-san!"

Ino was slightly stunned and blushed a bit from this but she couldn't help but smile regardless. "That's true."

Sakura was expecting some sort of argument to show up but Ino just accepted what was said. She narrowed her eyes and got a closer look at Ino and she was able to notice something. Ino's cheeks….were dusted pink. 'Ino is blushing! Wait does she…!' She shook her head and looked sternly at Ino "Ino do you like Naruto-san?" she was expecting a rebuttal or a shout of "no way in hell!" but what she got was nothing like that.

Ino didn't even have to think about her answer and she saw no point in hiding this as she had accepted it along with Hinata "yes….I do." Ino kept walking as the news had stunned Sakura still

Sakura was looking at Ino, who was still walking, and was running her mind through what she had just heard. 'Ino...Ino Yamanaka…...likes…..Naruto-san!' She shook her head and began to run after Ino "hey, hold on!"

Ino stopped and looked back at Sakura as the pink-haired girl caught up

Sakura was looking Ino dead in the eyes "what do you mean you like him? When did you start to like him?"

Ino shrugged her shoulders as she was unsure of when "I'm not really sure when I really started to like him but I realized it during the exams." she began to walk again as she looked up at the sky with a smile "I realized that he was always there for me when I needed him. He made me feel better when I felt like crying, he always made me feel safe when I was around him, and every time I think about what my future could look like…..I can't even see it without Naruto there with me." '...and now I know that Hinata feels the same'

Sakura was now staring dumbly at Ino and was at the moment not paying attention to where she was going and as if the world was trying to make things funny, she walked into an electrical pole. "Ow."

Ino looked at Sakura and couldn't help but laugh.

Sakura glared at Ino while she rubbed her nose. 'I can't believe that Ino likes Naruto...but than again, I guess Naruto isn't such a bad guy to like.'

Ino finished laughing and looked down an alley in time to see something that caused her some concern. She ran down the alley, leaving Sakura.

Sakura chased after Ino as she didn't know what could cause Ino to look worried.

Ino made it to the end and ran after what she saw. What she saw was Naruto, but he was being dragged from the back of his jacket by a tall, white-haired man who was followed by two women "hey what did you do to Naruto!?"

Jiraiya looked at Ino and smirked as he recognized her as one of the girls that were after Naruto. He smirked at the girl before he looked forward again and continued to drag the unconscious Naruto "I didn't do a thing the gaki. He is like this because of the woman here." he said as he used his free hand to point his thumb behind him at Tsunade and Shizune

Ino glared at Tsunade but paused as she recognized the woman "you're Tsunade Senju! You are one of the three legendary Sanin!" she stood there in shock as Sakura had also walked up and ha heard who this was and was in the same shock as Ino

Tsunade smirked at the recognition. She would have said something but Shuizune had spoken to her

"My lady, we should catch up with Jiraiya-san and Naruto-kun. We still need to help the three that are in the hospital."

Tsunade sighed as she nodded "alright Shizune. Once we get that done we can go meet the old man."

Ino and Sakura began to walk with them as Sakura asked the question "who are you going to help in the hospital?"

Tsunade sighed as she hated it when she was asked questions like this "some people that the unconscious gaki in front of us wants me to help."

Ino remembered that Naruto was unconscious and moved to walk next to him.

Sakura looked to where Ino went and finally realized that Naruto was being dragged. She ran to catch up and looked down at Naruto "what happened to him?"

Jiraiya smirked as he answered "he asked for some help in his training but he bit off more than he could chew. Right now he is just sleeping it off. I would wake him up but it takes forever to do that so, here we are."

Ino thought about something for a bit before smiling "I can wake him up."

Jiraiya looked down at Ino with a quirked eyebrow "oh? You got a bowl of ramen that can get him out of this."

Ino shook her head "nope." she looked down at Naruto before cupping her hands next to her mouth and shouted "FREE RAMEN AT ICHIRAKU!"

Tsunade, Shizune, Jiraiya, and Sakura face faulted at this as they didn't believe that this would wake the boy up.

Naruto's ear twitched a bit before his eyes shot open, jumped onto his feet and brought his fist in the air "Six bowls of chicken Ramen and four bowls of Miso!"

Everyone but Ino, face faulted again as they couldn't believe that it worked

Ino smiled at how easy it was to wake Naruto up. All you had to do is mention free ramen and he would be at his feet and ready for anything "sorry Naruto, but there is no free ramen." she giggled at how Naruto was acting

Naruto looked to Ino and gave a deadpan glare "damn it Ino. why do you have to do that."

Ino just put her hands behind her back and began walking ahead "because it's the best way to wake you up."

Naruto moved to walk next to her, leaving the rest behind "that's mean. You using the food of the gods against me!"

Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Shizune just shook their heads as they followed behind

Sakura's jaw was on the ground as she could not believe that Ino was acting like this. Not once had she seen Ino act like this EVER. she rubbed her eyes to make sure that it was Ino and there she was. The same platinum blonde walking with the sunkissed blonde. "How did this happen?"

* * *

~Hospital, Kakashi's room~

Tsunade had her hand on Kakashi's forehead while she used medical jutsu to help his mind come from the coma-like state he was in.

Shizune was standing at the side with Tonton in her arms just watching.

Jiraya was standing next to Shizune with his arms crossed.

Naruto was on the opposite side of the bed from Tsunade but he was crouched down so only his hair and eyes were visible from the side of the bed. He was staring intently at Kakashi's face

Ino was standing next to him and was looking down at Naruto with her hands on her hips "what are you doing Naruto?"

Naruto didn't stop his gaze "I wanna know what's under the mask but I don't know if I should use this opportunity to remove it and see what's underneath."

Ino looked to Kakashi and she soon got curious about it as well. She may not have talked to Kakashi much but she wouldn't deny feeling a bit of curiosity in what was under the mask.

Naruto slowly brought his hand up and moving it closer to Kakashi's face. He was only an inch away from it when Tsunade removed her hand

"Done."

Kakashi opened his eyes, which caused Naruto to panic and jump back until he hit his head on the wall. "Ow"

Ino shook her head "that's what you get for doing something like that."

Kakashi looked around until his eyes landed on Tsunade "huh. Didn't think to see you back here."

Tsunade smirked "you can thank the gaki for that. But I can't believe that you would end up in such a state. What happened to the skill you had all those years ago."

"Sorry."

Jiraiya stepped forward as he looked at Kakashi "well now that you are conscious. We need to talk."

Kakashi nodded as he knew that they would need to discuss a few things.

* * *

~Hospital, Lee's room~

The group sans Jiraiya made their way to Lee's room.

Naruto was the one to open the door and was a little stunned to see who was in the room, he knew that Guy was there since Guy was Lee's teacher but the other person was a bit surprising "Karin-chan? What are you doing here?"

Karin was sitting in a chair as she was glaring at Lee until she heard Naruto. She turned her head to look at the group and smiled a bit "hey everyone. I'm just making sure that this idiot doesn't do anything that could make his injuries worse."

Lee was crying in his hospital bed as he was forced to stay there since the last time he tried to do pushups in his room, Karin had used some sort of chain jutsu to force him back into the bed. "Oh Karin-chan, how could I just let my flames of youth diminish when I should make them burn brighter!"

Guy was crying as well as he could not handle it as well "oh she doesn't know that value of our flames of youth my youthful student."

"You moron, if you do any kind of training when your body is like that then you could end up being a cripple and won't be able to make your 'flames of youth' burn at all!"

Naruto shivered as this was the first time that he head someone else say their catchphrase.

Tsunade didn't know what to make of this but from how the boy looked and the whole youth thing, she could see that Guy had made a mini clone of himself. She moved to stand next to the boy and channeled her chakra to her palm and began to examine his injuries, she grimaced at the extent of them. If she had to guess, whatever caused them was in the intention to either kill him or purposefully cripple him. "I'm not going to lie, your injuries are severe. It's amazing that you are still alive."

Everyone in the room grew grim. The way that the woman had said it makes it sound like she would not be able to do much for him.

Naruto could feel, fear, anxiety, and panic from Lee, Guy, and Karin. He spoke up "so can you heal him?"

Tsunade continued to examine the injuries before speaking "Honestly, the only way to fix him is through surgery. And it is a very risky procedure."

Everyone was now feeling dread as now they all thought that there was no hope for Lee

"However…" this caught everyone's attention "it would seem that some healing was done to the injuries and although it didn completely heal him, it did make it so they didn't get any worse. By this, I can give the percentage of success in the surgery: 73%."

Karin spoke up form here "that might be because of what I did."

Tsunade quirked an eyebrow at the girl "what did you do?"

"I can heal people by letting them bite me. When he was first injured I forced him to bite me while he was unconscious. And during my visits, I have been getting him to bite me again to see if we could improve his condition."

Lee blushed as he remembered the times that he bit down on her arm and the…..sounds...she made when he did.

Tsunade was interested in this type of healing and was very interested in what it could do. But right now she had a patient that needed tending "well thanks to that he has a very good chance at the surgery. I will still hold off on the surgery as I need to prepare for it but there is a good chance that you will be able to continue your shinobi career when you are fully healed."

Everyone was happy to hear that Lee would still be able to be a shinobi

Guy leapt to Lee ready to hug his student but he was stopped by a set of chains that were coming out of Karin's back

"No hugs!"

* * *

~Hospital, Sasuke's room~

Tsunade was using the same method that she used for Kakashi on Sasuke

Naruto was standing next to the door with ino and Shizune as they watched Tsunade heal Sasuke.

After a minute Sasuke opened his eyes and slowly got up into a sitting position as Tsunade stepped back.

Tsunade sighed as she spoke "next time don't go facing off with someone that is out of your league."

Naruto expected Sasuke to get angry at what she said but surprisingly he didn't feel any negative emotion form Sasuke. He thought that this was odd but he shrugged his shoulders as what Sasuke did was his own business.

The group chose now to head out, and they left Sasuke to be in his own room

As they were walking through the hall Tsunade looked to the kids "well, I did what was asked so I'm off to go meet the old goat."

Naruto smiled "thanks again Baa-chan!"

Tsunade grew a tick mark and hit Naruto in the head "don't call me that!"

Shizune sweatdropped at this and chuckled dryly. She then left with Tsunade and Tonton, heading to the Hokage tower.

Naruto was rubbing his head as he got up and was about to start walking but Ino had put a hand on his shoulder

"Naruto. We need to talk."

Naruto looked to her with some confusion in his eyes "about what?"

Ino took a deep breath and spoke "not just you and me, Hinata too. We need to talk about….us."

Naruto slumped a bit as he now understood what she was implying. They needed to talk about what they were going to do about how they felt about each other. They didn't really have the opportunity to all sit together and talk about it. He understood his own feelings for both of the girls and he knew that he would do whatever he could to keep them safe and make them happy but he was unsure about them and how they saw this whole situation. He nodded his head as he looked into her eyes "ok."

Ino nodded as well and they both left in order to find Hinata so the three of them can talk

* * *

End of chapter

Ok readers, before I bring up the usual things that I try and clear up, I have some news. A few days ago I, unfortunately, busted my dominant hand and won't be able to use it for a while. As you can guess this means that I won't be able to type up any of my stories. The only reason that this chapter is up is that I already had most of it done and it is short. Please note that I will still try to update my stories but with the use of only one hand, it will be a very slow process. Something that I will be doing constantly though will be going through early chapters and fix up some grammar errors since I don't need both hands for that. They will be marked in the end comments with a bold "Edit notice". Anyway, that's the news. If you haven't already, check out my other stories to read other stuff from me.

Another short chapter. But the story continues.

One thing popped into my mind when I was writing the interaction between Ino and Tsunade. They both have hair color that is almost the same. With this thought, I was thinking: what if Ino was Tsunade's daughter. It's a weird thought and one that I won't go into but it might be a good way or someone to write a story about it. I mean there are stories about Naruto being her kid so why not someone else. Ino works since she also has blonde hair. No real logic to it but then again it's fanfic. We can throw logic out the window

Naruto does not know the conversation that Ino and Hinata had so he doesn't know what they decided

The reason Sakura is not with them at the hospital is because she went off to train with Haku. also, her reaction to Ino liking Naruto is because no one ever really noticed this since there were no real signs of it. Hinata is fairly obvious but Ino was not

I am thinking of making the chakra chains an Uzumaki kekkei genkai. I haven't found anything about them saying that they were or weren't so I am making it as such since Kushina and Karin can use them.

Voting results:

Naruto 1rst: fox - 31 votes

Ino 1rst: Cats - 22 votes

Hinata 1rst: lion -16 votes

Naruto 2nd: wolf - 16 votes

Ino 2nd: butterfly - 8 votes

Hinata 2nd: Tiger - 10 votes

I think it's safe to say that Naruto's second summon will be foxes. Ino's cats seems a solid but it could still change and Hinata's "lions" is in the same boat. A new animal was added for Hinata, Otters. I think it's cool but since no one has voted for it I might give it to someone else. Maybe Hanabi. If you haven't voted yet I implore you to do so. Your vote matters :P. Link to the poll is on the top of my profile page

Please read favorite follow and review


	42. One is lost while others are whole

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

**"****Demon/Summon speech"**

**'****Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts' **

**Jutsu name**

(author comment)

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

Chapter 42: One is lost while others are whole

Sasuke was staring out of his hospital window with an impassive look on his face. However, in his head, he was thinking a million thoughts a second and each one arguing with the other. 'Could what he said be true?' 'NO! He is lying! Everything he said is a lie! I saw it with my own eyes!' 'but that would also mean that what he showed us that night could also be a lie.' 'He showed us the truth that night! Why else would he show us what he did?!' 'because he wanted me to be what the Uchiha were not. He wanted me to show that the Uchiha were not all monsters.' 'BUT HE IS A MONSTER! He was always a monster!' '...was he?' Sasuke had flashbacks to his early years in his life. He remembered the times that Itachi would help him in his training, the time that Itachi would take him out into the village and enjoy themselves, the times that he would stay awake with him and talk about what he had done in the academy, and the time that Itachi would support him all the times he felt like he failed. The last memory that came to him was the sight of his brother shedding tears as they stared into each other's eyes. In a fit of rage, he punched the wall next to the window. He looked at his reflection to see his Sharingan was active and a few tears fall from his eyes. "I need to know. If what he told me was the truth."

* * *

_~flashback~_

**_"Tsukiyomi"_**

_Sasuke opened his eyes to find out that he was no longer in the hotel that he tracked down his brother. He was in a bleak open space that was colored in shades of black, white and greys. He looked around to see if he could find anything other than the random tree. "ITACHI! Where are you?!"_

"_It would seem that you let your anger control you."_

_Sasuke turned around to see Itachi standing on the hazy black liquid that made up the floor. In anger, he ran at Itach and threw a punch at him but as his fist impacted on his face, Itachi burst into a murder of crows._

_The crows flew around Sasuke a bt before they gathered together behind Sasuke. "It would seem that my actions have indeed caused you to go down this dark path."_

_Sasuke didn't hear what was said as he turned and attacked Itachi again and again and again but each time Itachi would just burst into crows before reforming again. Sasuke's anger grew more after every miss. "STOP DODGING AND FIGHT ME!"_

_Itachi watched as his little brother continued to attack with no thought to what was going on. He knew that this was his fault. His brother was always a blank canvas that could be painted in many different ways. He had hoped that setting Sasuke on the path to kill him and redeem the tarnished name of the Uchiha but he now saw that it drove him down a much darker path. Itachi continued to let Sasuke attack until the boy tired himself out._

_Sasuke continued to attack Itachi until he jumped back and went through some hand signs before bringing his hand to his mouth _**"****_Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"_** _As he blew, he realized that no fire was made. He was confused at this but he soon realized that he was tired after all his attacks. 'What the hell is going on!'_

_Itachi saw that this was the best time to start talking and took the chance "Sasuke…..I am sorry."_

_Sasuke felt his anger return and face Itachi "you're SORRY!" Sasuke jumped forward and threw a fierce taijutsu onslaught at Itachi. "FOR WHAT?! FOR KILLING EVERYONE IN THE UCHIHA CLAN?! FOR SHOWING ME WHAT A MONSTER YOU ARE?! FOR KILLING MOM AND DAD JUST TO PROVE HOW STRONG YOU ARE!?" Sasuke threw another straight punch which was caught by Itachi._

_Itachi had blocked all the punches and kicks that were sent at him and let Sasuke scream. But as he caught Sasuke's punch, he looked into Sasuke's eyes "no….for lying to you."_

_Sasuke gained a confused look at what was said before growing angry again. Through gritted teeth, he asked, "about what?!"_

_Itachi sighed as he let go of Sasuke's fist "about that night."_

_Sasuke threw a roundhouse kick at Itachi which only caused the older Uchiha to burst into crows again before forming behind Sasuke. "What about it?! I saw what happened! You killed everyone just so you could prove yourself the strongest!"_

_Itachi shook his head "there is more to that night that you do not know about and after I have seen how it has driven you, I now know that you must know the truth behind my actions."_

_Sasuke continued to glare at Itachi but he paused as he got ready to listen to what his traitorous brother had to say._

_Flashback end _

* * *

~Atop the Hokage monument~

Naruto had never felt this much fear before. Granted he had felt fear before but right now the fear he was feeling was his own. In front of him were the two girls that he grew to care for. All three of them were sitting on their knees and he felt the need to get to his feet and run. As the two girls were looking at him, he was looking at the ground as if it was the most interesting thing that he had ever seen. His index finger's nail was extended into a claw as he used it to carve a small hole on his side

Ino and Hinata could see how vulnerable the boy was acting. It was strange to them as they had never seen him in such a manner. Most of the time that they had seen him, he was always confident but now he seemed to lack any of that confidence.

Hinata didn't like to see the boy that had gained her affection in such a state but she knew that what they had to talk about was important, so she willed herself to stay seated.

Ino was no better. She hated the way Naruto looked. She still felt guilty for hurting Naruto during the fight they had and now here he was, not hurt but afraid. Afraid of what they had to talk about. She wanted to just blurt out what Hinata and she had decided but they need him to understand a few things about this. "Naruto?"

Naruto jumped from the sudden saying of his name. He accidentally cut his own palm with his claw but it was already healed after he looked at it. He wanted to keep his sight on his palm but he slowly looked up to look at the two girls. He breathed in some air to calm himself a bit and spoke in a subdued tone "yes?"

Ino was about to say something but nothing came out of her mouth. She knew what this conversation was about and she was ready to get it going but now that she was here, she realized she didn't know how to start it. 'I should have thought about how to start this…..'

"Naruto-kun? How do you feel about us?"

Ino looked to her right at Hinata. She was surprised that the timid girl would be the one to ask such a question as it was to the point and not beating around the bush.

Naruto was also a little stunned about the question and looked at Hinata with a bit of shock on his face. After a second he looked down at the ground as if trying to think of how to say how he felt about them but he really was just afraid of looking into their eyes as he spoke. Growing up the way he did, he has gained a fear of rejection. He always feared that someday his friends will become like the villagers and reject him. This fear grew when he learned about what he was as he wasn't normal. Right now that fear was going full blast as right now he feared rejection from either of the two people that he grew close to.

Ino could see that Naruto was closing in on himself based on his body language. She moved a bit closer to Naruto and brought her hand up. She put her fingers under his chin and brought his gaze up. Once she was able to see his eyes she smiled at him. "It's ok Naruto. Just tell us."

Naruto looked into Ino's eyes before he looked to Ino's right to see that Hinata had moved closer too. Taking a deep breath, he looked back into Ino's eyes "Ino-chan, you were someone that came to a random kid that was on the swings alone and showed more kindness to me than most of the village. You became my friend when I was alone and from all the times that we spent playing, gardening, talking, and spending time with each other, you became one of the most important people to me." he moved his gaze to Hinata "Hinata-chan, it hurt me when you had stopped being my friend…."

Hinata felt a pang of guilt at being reminded of what she had done to Naruto but she continued to look the boy in the eyes

"But when I found out that you were only told to stop being my friend because of your clan, I couldn't blame you for doing what you did. Then we started to train together and hang out together with your mother and Hanabi-chan. I learned more about you and you also began to become someone that was important to me. You are strong, gentle, and kind. You always fear hurting others but you are protective of everyone around you." he looked back to Ino and continued" Ino-chan, you are fierce, independent, and caring. You are not afraid about speaking your mind and you defend those close to you." Naruto looked down to his lap "both of you are important to me and time went on, I learned that I… I like you both. I….don't know what to do about these feelings. I know I can't be with both of you and the idea of leaving one of you behind hurts me and knowing that you both love me just makes it hurt more." Naruto felt his eyes moisten a bit "if I chose to be with one of you, it would mean that I would be hurting the other and…..I don't want to hurt either of you. You two are too important to me." he shut his eyes trying to will the pain he felt away "I…..I can't choose one over the other so I think it would be better if I just don't choose either of you so you two can find someone better to be with and …" he was stopped when he felt two pairs of arms wrap around him. He opened his eyes to see that Hinata and Ino had hugged him from both sides.

Both Hinata and Ino could no longer just sit there and let Naruto continue this way of speaking. They both moved and hugged Naruto as he id what they both expected. He would let them go in order for them to find someone else but they had agreed that they could not think of a future without Naruto being the most important man in their life.

Ino pulled back and looked Naruto in the eyes with a determined look. "Naruto, you baka. If you let both of us go, it would hurt us as the one we like wouldn't be with us."

Naruto was confused about what Ino had said

Hinata pulled back next "Naruto-kun, while you were away, me and Ino…..T-talked about what we should do. Both of us want to be with you and n-neither of us wanted to just let you go. You have become important to us as well and we can't see our lives being complete if you were not in it. S-so we both decided t-that...um…."

Ino picked up from where Hinata left off "we are both going to be with you."

Naruto stared wide-eyed at Ino. he looked to Hinata and then back to Ino and did this a few times, not being able to come up with a response

Ino brought her hand to rest on Naruto's right cheek "Naruto, we both hurt you and t had caused both of us to feel guilty about what we did but because of it, we both learned that being away from you was more painful than anything and we don't want to feel that way again." Ino gained a look of fierce determination "so you are going to be with both of us!"

Naruto looked to Hinata and saw that even though Hinata was changing color, she nodded in confirmation.

Hinata gathered her courage and hugged Naruto again, burying her face in his chest "N-naruto-kun. Please say y-yes. I don't want to hurt you again and I don't mind ...t-this."

Naruto couldn't comprehend this. He felt that this talk would end up with the three of them going their separate ways. He had planned on letting the two go and just watch them from the sidelines. Watch as they both found someone else to be with. Yes, he knew it would hurt his heart to just let them be with some other guy but he would do it if it meant they would find happiness. That was the plan but here they were, asking him to be with both of them. He felt like it was a fantasy dream, a fantasy that he hadn't even thought of and if he blinked it would all go away. He looked down at the top of Hinata's head and then at Ino. he didn't know what was going on and his mouth just asked without him even realizing it "are...are you sure about….this?"

Ino glared into Naruto's eyes "Naruto, we wouldn't have brought this up if we weren't sure. So just say 'yes' already."

Naruto felt the need to grab onto this strand of happiness that had just presented itself to him. The two most important girls in his lie had just proposed to him that they would be with him. He brought up his left arm to wrap around Hinata and his right hand came up to Ino's, that was still on his cheek and spoke what he really wanted "I….I want to be with you both. I don't want to let either of you go. You are the most important girls to me. So will both of you stay with me from now on?"

Ino smiled as she spoke "please take care of us from now on Naruto." once she said this she looked to her hand that was still on Naruto's cheek and remembered something that was told to her a while ago by brought her face close to Hinata's ear and whispered.

Hinata was confused about what Ino had whispered to her but she decided to try out what was suggested. Holding on to the courage she had she brought up her right hand to Naruto's left cheek.

Naruto felt the soft hands from both of the girls and wondered what they were doing. He got his answer when he felt them begin to gently rub his whisker marks. His eyes widened at what they were doing 'how did they…!' he didn't get to finish his thought as his eyes became half-lidded from the sensation he was feeling from them and he found his defenses dropping fast. Before he could even attempt to stop himself he let it out. "Purr~" he fell back with the hands still on his cheeks "Purr~ Purr~"

Both the girls continued the action of rubbing Naruto's cheeks and both had the same thought run through their heads

"KAWAII!"

* * *

~meanwhile, Hokage tower~

Tsunade was smirking at the old man that was sitting at his desk. "Looks like you are ready to collapse from exhaustion. Old age seems to finally be getting to you."

Hiruzen gave a mock glare at his student "I'm too old for this shit and I am ready to relinquish this job to someone. I am glad that you have accepted in taking the job as the only other candidate is Jiraiya and we both know that it would be detrimental for the whole village if that happened.

They both knew the kinds of 'laws' that the pervert would make in order for him to go about his 'research'

Tsunade shook her head at this and spoke again "well at least we know that he won't get the chance."

Hiruzen nodded "yes. Now, we should begin going over some of the things that are to be expected and some new workloads that fell upon me."

Tsunade quirked an eyebrow at the last bit "'new workload?'"

Hiruzen sighed as he slumped in his seat and looked to have gained more years on him. He took his hat off and placed it on the desk as he rubbed his forehead "due to some incriminating evidence on the civilian council as well as the elders, all civilian matters are being handled by me and some on the Shinobi council. Namely Shikaku Nara and Shibi Aburame. Most of the members of the civilian council have already been executed but a few of them have remained….collected, after their many sessions with Ibiki, Anko and Inoichi. Interestingly, Inoichi had been the one most adamant in dealing punishment to some of them. However, I assume it has to do with the fact that they had been the instigators in the torment on Naruto-Kun."

Tsunade was surprised at this "I assume that Inoichi had seen some of the things that had happened to the boy."

Hiruzen nodded "yes….."

Tsunade could see that Hiruzen was hesitant to tell her about Naruto so she brought up the major issue that revolved around him "I already know about him."

Hiruzen looked to Tsunade with a calculated gaze as he tried to see if she was referring to his Jinchuriki status or his Bijuu status.

"He has six last he showed me."

Hiruzen felt a weight lifted off him. He was wary on telling Tsunade about this as it was not his secret to tell. Although he could tell her about it, Naruto was the one that had the right to tell it. Enough was done to the boy and adding to it was just wrong. "Well then, I believe that we should begin your research on the procedures of the job. In a week, you will become the Godaime Hokage, I look forward to seeing how well you do."

* * *

~a week later~

It had been an eventful week for many in Konoha.

The citizens were all abuzz about the news regarding the new Hokage. Many were both saddened and excited about the news and it showed in their behavior

Tenten had found out that her idol was becoming the Hokage and that Naruto was the one that brought her to the village. Safe to say Naruto had to run for his life for not telling Tenten about it sooner

Most of the other Rookies just considered it as just another change that had to happen in the village.

The females of the Rookies were delighted to have a female Hokage as it boosted up the general standing for them.

Karin who had started to become integrated better with the other Rookies was intrigued by the woman as she learned that Tsundae had Uzumaki ancestry.

Konohamaru was a little mad that his Jiji was leaving the job that he wanted but he was glad to hear that he would be able to hang out with him much more now that Hiruzen was free from his responsibilities.

As for Hiruzen, when he wasn't going through the procedures on being a Hokage, he went through files of the captured Root agents. He had found that some of them were forced to work for Danzo as they had once had an obedience seal attached to them. He was mad when he found out that some of his shinobi that had gone missing, were in fact agents of Root, some against their will. However, what infuriated him were the shinobi that were the missing children that came from many of the clans. He remembered the parents that ran to him in tears, saying that their sons and daughters had gone missing. When he found out that the children were turned to Root agents, the whole village felt a wave of Killing Intent. He was furious and for a brief moment, he wished the man was still alive so he could be the one to kill him.

Tsunade had spent a lot of time learning about being the Hokage as well as becoming a member of the hospital staff. While she was learning about being a Hokage, she was also doing some research to help improve Lee's chances of going through the surgery. After a few days, she had risen up his chances to a 94% chance of success. Once that was done she immediately began to prepare for it.

Guy was exceptionally nervous about it as during the surgery he had paced back and forth so much that he actually left a hole in the hospital waiting room, much to the ire of the staff.

The surgery was an obvious success and Lee was in the clear. He had to stay in bed for a bit of time and would need rehabilitation before he could be on active duty but his shinobi career was still his.

As for Naruto, Ino, and Hinata, they had spent some time figuring out how to make their relationship work. Since they were still young and never really dated before they didn't really know how to handle it, especially since what they were doing isn't really considered the norm. At least not that they knew. They had chosen that as of right now they should just go out on dates and spend time with each other. This had worked out well since it was the norm with them and it was what they were comfortable with. They had also begun to train together to understand their own way of fighting. They decided to keep what they had a secret as it was meant only for them and no one else.

Sasuke was indifferent about the whole thing as he had other matters in his head.

The day of Tsunade's inauguration had come and it was a joyous day for many. The villagers were cheering for her as Hiruzen gave his speech on how she would take his place.

Hiruzen had finished his speech and for the last time, he had taken off his hat and walked to Tsunade. He slowly lifted up the hat and placed it on top of her head. The second his fingers had let it go, he felt all the wight and responsibilities leave him and his mind had several things run through his head. 'May you lead this village better than I have.' deep in his subconscious mind, there was another thought that ran through his head 'FREEDOM! I'M FINALLY FREE! NO MORE PAPERWORK. NO MORE WILL THE MONSTER MADE OF PAPER COME AFTER ME! FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST! PRAISE KAMI, I'M FREE AT LAST!

* * *

~Hiruzen's home~

It had been a few days since Hiruzen had been released from the Hokage title. He was at the moment sitting in his back porch, smoking his pipe. He smiled as he looked to the sky and puffed out some smoke. "It is such a wonderful day. It is a good day to spend out in the village so I must ask why you have come to meet an old man like me." he looked to his backyard at his unexpected guest.

In the middle of the yard was Sasuke Uchiha. He stood there staring at the old man with a desire in his eyes. He walked closer to Hiruzen and spoke in an angry tone "I need some answers!"

Hiruzen sighed as he could guess what it was the boy wanted to know 'very well. What is it that you wish to know?"

Sasuke took a breath as he was about to get the answers he wanted

* * *

~Hokage office~

"I'm going to kill that little brat for making me take this job!"

"Lady Tsunade you have another set of papers that need to be looked at."

"Oink"

Tsunade was going over some paperwork that was left to her after Hiruzen left. "Oh? And what are _they _about?"

Shizune looked at the top paper and spoke "it's about a meeting with the Suna council about a new treaty they want to discuss. Once they get a word from you, they will send a couple of shinobi that are versed in politics in order to have talks about it. They no longer have a kage so they are having their council fill in until a new kage is appointed."

Tsunade groaned as she was starting to hate the job already. She took the paper that Shizune had and read it over "at least their council are actually looking out for their village instead of filling in their pockets." she placed the paper down as she sighed "I need some Sake."

Suddenly the door burst open, causing Shizune and Tsunade to jump a bit at the sudden noise.

Tsunade panicked as she saw the high pile of paper waver a bit. She got up and steadied it

"Hey Baa-chan!"

Tsunade felt a tick mark pulse as she felt the need to hit something or rather someone but she didn't move as she didn't want to play the game of 522 pickup. She glared at the blonde brat that came into her office "what do you want brat?"

Naruto wasn't affected by the anger that was aimed at him. He made his way to stand in front of the desk with his hands behind his head "I came here to see if you have any job that I can take. I kinda need some more money."

Tsunade sighed as she got the pile of papers to stop shaking. She slowly sat back down in her chair as she went through some of the missions that were available. "There aren't many available and our forces are spread thin at the moment. I do have a simple delivery mission that doesn't have much risk, so it should be good for a single shinobi. If the rest of your team were available I would send you with them but Sakura is at the moment helping with repairs and Sasuke is still on leave. No other genins are available as they have their own missions going. Shikamaru is on his own mission so he is unavailable."

Naruto nodded "that's fine. Anything that can get me some more money to save up than it's all good."

When this was heard, Shizune asked something that Tsunade and she needed to know "Naruto-kun, where exactly is your current residence? We looked at the files to find out but the apartment complex that it had given us is destroyed and not considered a priority in need of repairs."

Naruto chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck "actually I'm living in the forest o death right now."

Tsunade and Shizune were looking at him as if he was insane

" I didn't really have anything important in there and I didn't really care about the building. I used to sleep in the forest before and I chose to do it again."

Shizune went into a worried state as she asked "but how are you able to live there? What do you do for eating, bathing and when someone comes to get you?"

Naruto smiled sheepishly "well I go hunting when I need food. When someone needs me they can find me mostly at Ichiraku or the training ground. As for baths…..I have my ways." he didn't want to tell them that he usually gets clean in the stream he found in the forest and when he really needed to get clean he made appointments with Hana's clinic for a cleaning. It had become a sort of spa treatment for him and he was able to keep this a secret from everyone but Hana and Tsume, who found out about it when she came in during one of his visits.

Tsunade sighed as she shook her head in disapproval "Naruto you need to have a residence in the village. There might be a time that we need to call on you and we can't really send someone into the forest to try and find you. I would recommend that you find an apartment to use so we know where to find you."

Naruto slumped a bit but nodded "ok." he stood up straight and took the scroll that had the details for the delivery mission "I'll go over some of the available apartments when I come back from this mission." he turned around and began to leave the office. He paused when he opened the door and turned to look at Tsunade. He gained a mischievous smile on his face "hey Baa-chan, wanna know something?"

* * *

~elsewhere~

Sasuke was walking down the village street as he stared at the ground. He thought about everything that he learned and for the first time in a long time, he felt lost. He had learned the truth about what was really going on with the Uchiha clan. He learned that his own brother had terminated the whole clan because of a coup that they were planning. A part of him was mad at the fact that his family had to die for something like this and on the other hand he saw that his brother had so much that he sacrificed his family to protect it. His brother. The one that he had at one time looked up to with so much admiration and at another time he had hated the man for killing everyone he knew. But one thing that he was told by his brother, stayed strong in his mind: he was dying. Itachi, his only remaining relative, was slowly dying from an illness that he was not getting treated. 'What do I do?" He suddenly found himself walking through the empty Uchiha compound and he couldn't help but think back to all his memories. Once he hated seeing them as they reminded him that his brother had slaughtered all the people there but now as he thought back he couldn't help but see something else. His brother crying for all that he was doing, for what the man named Danzo had forced him to do. What the old man had tried to avoid and what he was spared from. "...What do I do now?" for the first time in a long time, he did not feel anger at the incident, he just felt…..lost.

* * *

~a few days later~

Naruto was standing in the middle of a training ground eager to start. With him were Ino, Hinata, and Hanabi.

Hinata was asked by her mother to take Hanabi with her when she went out with Naruto and Ino, which she happily agreed.

Hanabi was looking at Naruto with an interested look in her eye "Naruto-nii-sama? What are you going to do?"

Naruto smiled at Hanabi as he spoke "I learned something a while ago and I want to try it out. I don't know if it will work but if it does, it could be cool!"

Ino shifted her weight onto one leg and put her hands on her hips as she asked: "well what is it? I doubt you would brag about it so much if it wasn't something big."

Naruto gained a foxy look "summoning."

Hinata grew confused at this "but Naruto-kun, don't you already know how to summon? You had one of your toad summons in the audience with us during the Chunin exams."

Naruto nodded "yeah but I found out that I could get another one. I found out that people can get their own summon if they know the hand signs and have the right amount of chakra. The toads summons are great but my um...tou-chan didn't really like them much."

* * *

_~Flashback~_

_*BOOM*_

"_RAMA-TOU-SAMA! I'M SORRY! HE OFFERED IT AND I TOOK IT!" NAruto avoided large paw swipe that created a massive crater behind him_

**"****_NO EXCUSE!" _**_Kurama swung his tail at Naruto that was lucky enough to dodge it bu was sent flying from the burst of wind that came from the impact_

_The wind threw Naruto through several trees until he finally stopped. He groggily looked up to see another tail coming down at him. He extended his own tail to grab on a tree branch and swung himself away from the larger tail. He was sent flying again from the wind but this time he was able to land on his paws and began running for his life. He began to jump left and right to avoid streams of fire that were sent at him "I'm sorry Tou-chan, please stop trying to kill me!"_

**"****_I won't stop until you have been punished properly!"_** _Kurama sent out another stream of fire, one larger than the last ones_

_Naruto looked back to see the fire coming at him "oh ramen…"_

_Flashback end_

* * *

Naruto shook his head to get rid of the memory "anyway I learned how to get another one so I want to try it."

Hanabi gained even more interest and moved in front of Naruto "how do you get it?"

Naruto looked down at Hanabi with a smile "for someone who doesn't have a contract, they just do the hand signs and summon. It should summon the holder of the contract for the summon animal that is most suited for you. For me, I just need to make sure that I don't focus on the toads."

Hinata walked up to be behind Hanabi "how did you find this out?"

"I was actually going to ask Ero-sennin but he disappeared and I don't know where he is, so I asked Baa-chan and she told me."

Ino grew curious about this and grew excited as well "well? Are you going to try it or not?"

Naruto smiled as he looked to Hinata and Hanabi "you should all stand back. I don't know how big it is going to be but if it could be just as big as Gamabunta, who is as big as the Ichibi."

The three girls jumped back, giving Naruto the space needed.

Naruto took a deep breath and emptied his mind "ok here we go!" he bit his thumb, spread it on his palm, went through the hand signs and focus a massive amount of chakra, making sure that he had enough. **"****Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" **he slammed his hand on the ground and a large puff of smoke enveloped him.

The three girls were looking on with anticipation to see would appear.

Naruto was also waiting in anticipation to see what would appear and then he heard a voice

"Hmm, it would seem that we finally have a summoner. I would have assumed that no one would ever be able to summon me."

It was a woman's voice. It had an air of maturity but also had an air of mischief

The smoke cleared away and everyone there saw what was summoned. It was a snow fox that stood over Naruto (about the size of a large great Dane. Those dogs are huge). Its ears and tail were black-tipped and it had one small silver earing hoop on its right ear.

Naruto was looking up at the fox. He knew he should have expected this but he just didn't think it would be this way. He just closed his eyes as he heard in his tou-chan just say one thing

**"****That's more like it! That's a summon worthy of us!"**

Naruto could only deadpan at what his father said

The fox looked down at Naruto and gave him an examining look with her golden eyes "so you are to the one that summoned me." she began to walk around the boy and gave him a once over "visibly you don't look like much but you smell like a fox that has some human smell on you." she brought her snout down to sniff the boy's hair "interesting~ hmm you could very well be worthy of being our summoner, even if you already signed the toad contract."

Naruto was shocked to hear this "how did you know that I signed the Toad's contract?"

"Boy, I can smell the toads on you and I recognize Bunta's smell on you."

Naruto actually lifted his shirt and took a sniff at it. He never noticed this before but he could sell toad on him. "Huh...never noticed that I smell like toads now." Naruto looked up at the fox and smiled "well what do I have to do in order to become your summoner?"

The fox lowered her head to gaze into Naruto's eyes and just stared.

Naruto didn't know what it was doing but he just stared back into her eyes as if in a trance

Ino, Hinata, and Hanabi were confused as they watched the two foxes, not that Hanabi knew this, stare into each other's eyes. They watched this go on for a few minutes until they saw movement again.

The fox moved her head back up and looked down at the boy with a sad look. "You have felt much pain before young one."

Naruto shook his head a bit as he looked up "what did you do?"

"I went through your character. You are built from strife and hardships but you stand tall amongst others. You are strong in Will and from this, I have deemed you worthy at being our first summoner."

Naruto looked up in shock at what she said "wait! I'm the first fox summoner!?"

She nodded as she laid down to be more at eye level. "There have been many that have tried to be our summoner but none have been of strong character. Some would have used us as weapons, some would have just seen us as pets and many do not see the value in being a fox summoner. You would see us as friends, treat us like family, and value us as partners." she tapped the ground in between them and a puff of smoke appeared. A large yellow scroll appeared and fell to the side as it opened. "You should know how this is done."

Naruto nodded as he bit his thumb and signed the contract.

Once it was signed she flipped it closed and sent it back to the summoning world. "You are now the first Fox summoner and I look forward to working with you young Naruto." she said as she bowed her head.

Naruto smiled as he bowed in response "thank you...uh….what's your name?"

The fox smiled "you may call me Kaname." and with that, she poofed away

Once Kaname was gone, Ino, Hinata, and Hanabi came close to him.

Ino was the first to speak with a smirk "figures that you would summon a fox. It would have been funny if you summoned a dog."

Naruto gave a mock glare at Ino "ha ha why don't you try and see what you get."

Ino was surprised at the suggestion as she didn't think about becoming a summoner. "You serious?"

Naruto fell back on his butt and gestured his hand to her "well, why not? I mean Hanabi looks like she is ready to do it herself."

Hinata and Ino looked to the little girl and saw that she was slowly going through the hand signs as if practicing them.

Hanabi looked up and blushed a bit in embarrassment at being caught doing this "heh heh."

Ino thought about it for a second and decided that she might as well try it. "Ok Naruto. What are the hand signs?"

Naruto went through the hand signs slowly so Ino could get them right. After a few minutes, she was able to get the hand signs and stood back in order to do it.

Ino bit her thumb, spread the blood on her palm, go through the hand signs and slammed her hand on the ground 'here it goes' **"****Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"**

Like before everyone was excited to see what was summoned this time.

"Mmm~ well it has bee a while since I was summoned. Now what could my potential new summoner be like?"

Out of the smoke came a dark blue cat that sat there looking up at Ino. she spoke as if she was a seductress.

Ino smiled as she knelt down to the cat "so cats are going to be my summons? Not the worst thing ever."

The cat gave a chuckling purr "hmm~ hmm~ don't get ahead of yourself child. You have yet to pass my test. If you are able to pass my test, then you are able to be a Cat summoner."

Ino smirked, "I can pass any test you throw at me."

"You are confident if you believe that you will pass this test. I like that. However, I must ask you…..what do you seek in life?"

Ino was confused at the question as she tilted her head a bit "what do you mean?"

The cat began to walk slowly around Ino and everyone could see that there was a sort of elegance int the way it moved. She shifted her eyes at Ino as it walked "we cats are the most free-spirited animals in all the animal summons. We do what we want when we want, regardless of the situation around us. However, when there is something that we want we will focus our attention on it until we have sunken our paws into it." the cat walked in front of Ino and looked back at the girl with a sly look on its face. "So tell me…... what is it that you wish to sink your claws into?"

Ino wasn't sure how to answer that question. She knew that she wanted to become a good kunoichi but this felt more like something on a personal level. She thought about the question 'what do I want? What is my goal in life?' she kept thinking about it until she looked to Naruto, who was giving her a genuine encouraging smile, not one of the false ones that she had seen him use when in walking through the village. She thought back to the times that he had that fake smile. She hated it as it meant that he was hiding the pain he was feeling. She preferred the genuine smile he rarely shows. She smiled as she remembered that she was one of the rare few that he gives that smile too. As she continued to look at Narutoshe spoke without realizing it "to keep a true smile on the face of the people I care about the most."

The cat was a little stunned at the answer and turned around to see that the girl was looking towards the boy that was with them. 'She answers true and such a simple yet impactful goal. She just might be our purr~fect summoner.' "you are an interesting one. And with an answer like that, you might be the right person for us." she sat down and taped her tail on to the ground next to her. A puff of smoke appeared and a large red scroll was standing there. She jumped on top of the scroll and looked into Ino's eyes. "This is the Neko summoning scroll. Sign your name in your own blood and press your fingerprints below and you shall officially become our summoner."

Ino was shocked at hearing this "but what about the test? I thought you were going to test me to see if I was worthy of being your summoner."

The cat licked her paw before cleaning her head "the question I gave was to see what you wanted to gain by being our summoner. You answered without really knowing that you answered and it was such a pu~re one. You wish to protect the smile that the boy has and in turn keep that smile aimed at you. My kin and I will test you later as a form of training you to best use us. I like you girl, and I look forward to seeing how you use us."

Ino smiled at this and nodded. She watched the cat jump off the scroll, getting it to fall to the side and roll open. Ino bit her thumb and signed the contract, pressed her thumb on her fingers before pressing her bloody fingerprints down on the space below her name.

Once the name was written, the cat tapped the scroll, which rolled itself up and poofed away "pleasu~re having you as our summoner Ino Yamaka. I am known as KuroNeko. Hope you summon us son" she poofed away after giving her name

Ino looked to Naruto who just smiled and gave her a thumbs up.

Naruto looked to Hinata who was standing by Hanabi "are you going to try?"

Hanabi tugged on Hinata's jacket causing the older girl to look down on her "can we Onee-chan?"

Hinata thought about it for a second and decided to join Ino in this. She also saw the excitement in her little sister's eyes and couldn't deny them. "Ok"

Both Hyugas stood across from each other and prepared to do the summoning. They both took a breath and went through the same method Ino went through. They went through the hand signs slower as to get them right and once they hit the last one, they both shouted out **"****Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"**

As before large plumes of smoke appeared and they waited for what would be summoned/

A low growl was heard from in front of Hinata and it caused everyone to be on edge.

Hanabi was looking into the smoke in front of her and could see what it was.

"Well well well, this is amazing. I didn't expect to be summoned again!" spoke a male voice that sounded happy and excited

Hanabi smiled as she saw an Otter standing in front of her. It was a brown otter with a white underbelly and it wore an ocean blue vest.

"Hmm?" the otter looked her up and down and in a quick bit of movement, it climbed up to her shoulder and leaned on her head "well this is the first time that I have ever been summoned by a kid but beggars can't be choosers. Well actually they can but it would get them nothing." the otter moved to be on top of Hanabi's head and leaned forward so he could look into her eyes upside down "so what's your name?"

Hanabi was taken aback by this but regained her Hyuga composure and answered: "my name is Hanabi Hyuga."

"Hmm, a Hyuga. Never had one of those before. Sweet!"

They both stopped as they heard a growl from in front of them.

Hinata was stunned to see her summon. It was a large lion that was clad in red regal armor that had gold highlights.

The lion looked down at Hinata and spoke in a voice that sounded deep and noble "it would seem that I have once again been summoned to this world. You are the one that seeks to be the summoner of the noble lions."

Hinata gave a weak nod at the intimidating sight

"I sense fear in you. I apologize if I come off as intimidating."

"I-i-it's f-f-fine."

The lion chose not to move as to not scare the girl "you need not be afraid of me as it would be a dishonor to intimidate someone who wishes to be our summoner." A whimper was heard from behind the lion and he turned around to see what it was. He saw that it was a little girl that was younger than the one that summoned him.

Hanabi took a step back when she saw the lion turn to face her. She never faced something like this and it was the first time she had ever seen a lion. She held on to the Otter

The lion analyzed the little girl for a few seconds and was about to speak in order to calm the little girl down but he grew shocked when he saw this summoner come up and stand protectively in front of her. He could still sense fear in the older girl but he was extremely impressed that she would forgo her own fear to protect the little one. Looking at them both, he realized that they were related. He smiled at this and loid down to make him seem less intimidating "I sense fear still within you but you ignore it in order to protect one that is important to you. You have courage young one and that is a wonderful thing to have. what is your name?"

Hinata spoke with as much courage she had "Hinata Hyuga"

"Well young Hinata, you have shown me the courage to face against your fears and that is what we seek in our summoner. It would be an honor to have you as our summoner."

The otter in Hanabi's arms nodded as he looked to her "same here. You seem like someone that could be fun to be with and I hear Hyugas are strong. The best choice to have, really." He hopped out of her arms and bowed to her "the names: Sora, Kawausora."

The Lion bowed his head "I am Leonidus."

Hinata and Hanabi were both smiling as this meant that they have also gained a summon. They hugged each other in happiness as they had succeeded.

Naruto and ino sat on the side as they watched all this happen.

Ino looked to Naruto and smiled "Thanks for finding this out Naruto and sharing this with us."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders "It wasn't hard for me to share this with you and I'm glad that you girls are summoners as well."

Ino smiled as she leaned her head on his shoulder "why is it that you always seem to make us want to be more than we are? To want more than we thought we did."

"Hmm don't know. But if it makes you and Hinata happy than I'll do whatever I have to for that."

"...dork"

After all was done Naruto, Hinata, and Ino laid on the grass together with Hanabi playing with her new summon

* * *

End of chapter

Guess who's back. My hand has been freed from the damn cast and I am able to write once more. Let me tell you it is a pain trying to use only my non-dominant hand for stuff. Couldn't write, couldn't draw, could barely eat without dropping foo but I digress

Stuff to bring up

The poll will now be closing. The poll has been opened far longer than I originally planned. I was only going to have it opened for a few weeks, a month at the most but it has been open for two months now and as you can see the winners have been established

The summon's speech are not bold as they don't have that booming voice that Kurama and the other three great summons have

for the voices, in my head, the fox has the same voice as the fox from Balto two, the nat: Kuroka from Highschool Dxd and the lion sounds like Aslan from Narnia. (I own none of these). the Otter I don't really have a voice reference so imagine his voice

Hiruzen is now free and before anyone starts to say anything that bit in his speech is not meant to offend. I put that little reference because I love that speech and saw this as a way to use it with a touch of humor.

The canvas bit on explaining Sasuke was actually something that I use as an analogy on humans. When a baby is born, it is a blank slate. As it grows older it becomes a clearer painting with the paints being the experiences and the brush strokes being the choices that are made. At the end of it, your portrait is hung on the wall of a museum for others to see what you were.

Ino finally did what Anko had told her to do many chapters ago

I hope you liked this chapter

967 favorites and 1240 follows. Let's get that favorites to a solid thousand! Especially since it will be one full year since I published this in a week

Has not been beta read but the beta read version shall replace this one when it has been but for now just enjoy this

Please read, favorite, follow, and review


	43. A fox's day in the village

Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech"**

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts' **

**Jutsu name**

(author comment)

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

HAPPY ONE YEAR

As of the 17th, it has been one year since this story has been published. I never thought that I would get to this point. Thank you for reading up to this point and favoriting, and following this story

* * *

Before we begin, any similarities to something are accidental and are not making fun of anything. Just a warning in case any of you think I am making light of a situation

* * *

Chapter 43: A fox's day in the village

Naruto slowly opened his eyes as a small ray of sun peaked in through the tall trees and miraculously landed on his eyes. "I chose this spot in the forest because it has everything I need, but of course, the spot I choose to sleep in is the only place in the whole forest that the sun shines through. I swear that damn sun is doing this to me on purpose." he got to his paws and walked out of the den he made for himself under a tree. Once out, he stretched like a cat, with his tails stretching as well. "I swear I am going to find a way to destroy you." he made his way to a stream nearby in order to freshen up as best he could. Dunking his head in, he immediately woke up as the cool refreshing water hit his face. He brought his head up with more energy than before "ah, that's a good way to wake up! A lot better than the ice-cold shower from the apartment." he then went to the small waterfall that created the stream and used it to clean himself. Once done with that he moved to the shore and shook himself dry, although he had some trouble drying some of his tails. He made his way back to his den and rummaged through some of the things that he had in it until he grabbed one of the scrolls that he had and unsealed a set of clothes. He **henged **himself into his smaller human form and got dressed. "I gotta find a way to keep my clothing on me when I use my **Henge**. Maybe I could come up with a seal that could change the size of my clothes so they stay on me when I switch forms." he finished tying his sash before he began to jump through the forest in the direction of the village.

Once he made it to the village he just began to walk around as he had nothing really planned/ he didn't really need to do any missions today since he had already saved up a good amount of money, not to mention the fortune that he had gotten when he drove that casino he went to into bankruptcy. "Hmm what should I do today? Ino-chan and Hinata-chan are both out on missions with their teams so I can't hang out with them, Sakura-san told me that she and Haku-san were going out to train today and that she would finally ask him out after they're done. Right now Karin-chan should be at the hospital helping out the staff….or making sure that Lee-san isn't overdoing his rehab. I could bug Baa-chan but she will probably just punch me through the wall. I could go see Jiji but he is probably enjoying his retirement but maybe I will see him later. Tenten-chan is probably still mad at me for not telling her about Baa-chan and if I go to her shop she will use me for target practice. Konohamaru and his friends are at the academy right now….damn." he continued walking through the village trying to figure out what to do while trying to figure out what to do for the day.

He made his way to his favorite spot: the top of the Hokage monument. He looked out to the village when suddenly, inspiration hit him. "Yes, that's perfect! It had been so long since I had done this. A Pranking marathon. And now with seals in my grasp, it will be so much easier. Beware Konoha! The Master of Pranks is making a return!"

Throughout the whole Village, every civilian and shinobi, save a select few, stopped what they were doing as they froze in place. It was like someone had hit the pause button on the whole village. Every man, woman, and child then all shivered at the same time as dread came over them.

The ones that were not working immediately began to finish their business as fast as they could and ran home. The ones that were working prayed that nothing bad would happen as they had an obligation in staying where they were. The shinobi spread out their senses in order to make sure that nothing would attack them.

The Anbu that were spread throughout the village got on guard and began to radio in an emergency alert for them alone. They could not raise the alarm until they knew for a fact that something terrible would happen. All of them just kept their eyes open for anything suspicious.

* * *

~Hokage Tower~

Tsunade was looking out the window with a confused expression. She was looking down at the streets and couldn't see any movement. "Shizune, do you know what's going on?"

Shizune who was standing next to Tsunade shook her head "sorry Lady Tsunade, but no I don't."

Before Tsunade could speak again, her secretary and several other staff members that worked in the building burst through the door and began to barricade it. "What is the meaning of this."

Her secretary looked at Tsunade with a look of dread. "Forgive us Tsunade-sama, but this is the safest place for everyone right now!"

Tsunade was confused at this "and what is it that you are trying to be safe from?"

One of the males looked to her "we all felt the chill. The same chill that everyone in the village gets when the little demon has chosen to get all of us."

Tsunade and Shizune grew furious at this as they hated the fact that these people were still belittling Naruto

Another man spoke up before Tsunade went off on them "it's not because of his burden!" this caused Tsunade to pause "we are referring him as the pranking demon. The bane of everyone's sanity. The last time he was let loose on the village, no one left their homes for two weeks. Not even the Anbu were spared from his wrath."

Tsunade was slightly intrigued by this and sat down back in her seat "it can't be that bad."

The group of people looked at each other and all shivered as they remembered some of the pranks done.

This caused Tsunade and Shizune to become slightly worried.

* * *

~Hiruzen's home~

Hiruzen was sitting in his living room, reading his little book when he felt the shiver. "Oh dear, it would seem Naruto-kun is going for it again…...a pity for everyone." he sighed before he went back to his book. "...ooh Mistumi-chan, you naughty girl"

* * *

~Inuzuka compound~

Tsume was barking orders to all her clansmen "I want every corner of our compound covered! I don't even want an ant to get in! And get the Ninken inside right NOW!"

Hana walked up to her mother as she looked around "mom, what's the emergency?"

Tsume sighed as she looked at her daughter "the pup is once again going on a pranking marathon. I'm getting everyone ready for when he comes."

Hana looked around and saw that only the clansmen were out and none of the ninken "why are all of our ninken inside instead of outside with their partners?"

"Because the last time he came, he was able to get fleas on all of them. We need to make sure that doesn't happen again." Tsume looked to her daughter with slight worry "you should stay in your clinic for the rest of the day. He might not go after you since he likes you."

Hana laughed at this before heading to her clinic. As she made her way, she thought of something "how does he get fleas on the ninken but not himself. He told me once that he hates fleas."

* * *

~Akimichi compound~

"Protect the food! Get it all into the safehouse!"

Every Akimichi were carrying hordes of food into a cellar that was made for emergencies. They have labeled the upcoming Maelstrom an emergency of the highest degree.

* * *

~Yamanka compound~

Noriko was leisurely tending to her flowers as the rest of the clansmen frantically ran around trying to fortify their compound. "Such a racket. Aren't you taking this a little too far?"

Inoichi, who was carrying wooden boards to use on some windows stopped and looked to his wife "we are just making sure that we don't suffer so much. It's best to be prepared."

Noriko smiled as she placed a kiss on his cheek "it's just his way of expressing himself."

Inoichi just gained a gloomy aura "yes but I wish he had a different way of doing it."

* * *

~Nara compound~

All the men were lazing about since all of them found it too troublesome to even try to stop the inevitable

* * *

~Aburame compound~

All members of the Aburame clan were each standing in a random corner of any room and stood completely still. They hoped that their unique ability to not be seen by anyone would come in handy right now since this time…..they didn't want to be noticed.

* * *

~Hyuga compound~

Hitomi and Hanabi were enjoying a cup of tea as the rest of the clan were standing on the wall of the compound facing outward with their Byakugan active.

"Mother, what is everyone worried about?"

Hitomi giggled at the question as she looked out to the courtyard "they are afraid of a storm that is coming. But we should be fine as this storm will not harm us."

Hanabi was confused about this but if her mother said it was going to be alright then she would just accept that.

* * *

~Hosptial~

A nurse was glaring at a group of people that were standing at the front door "unless any of you are in need of medical attention, then you will not be allowed in. and that's final!"

"Please! You have to let us in and find sanctuary!"

"It won't attack us if we are in there!"

The nurse just put her nads on her hips before huffing "too bad. This is a hospital, not a bunker." she turned around and walked through the door before she locked the door so no one could get in. 'thank Kami I had an early shift today.' she sat made her way down the hall feeling somewhat bad about her coworkers that didn't have a shift today

Karin came out to look down the hall and asked the nurse "whats going on?"

The nurse just smiled as she waved her hand "just some village problem. I would recommend that you stay inside this room until the end of the day." she then began to continue walking down the hall

Karin was confused about what she was told but just shrugged her shoulders. She moved back into the room and went over to Lee who was holding himself up by his arms as he tried to get used to walking again.

* * *

~later~

The village streets were barren of any living thing. It was as if the village had become abandoned by everyone.

Suddenly a man tumbled out of an alley panting and sweating in fear. He looked around him as if he was looking or something

"Mwahahahahaha"

From all around him a laugh was heard. This caused the man to scramble to his feet and he began to run down the street, trying to find a safe place to be

"Hahahahaha"

He began to push himself as fast as he could and after a few seconds, he found his salvation. Ichiraku Ramen. He ran faster than he ever thought he could and he felt safe the second he made his way inside.

Ayame looked to the man and smiled "welcome to Ichiraku Ramen. Are you a customer?"

The man was trying to catch his breath as he looked up "uh…..no I just needed to get away from ….." he pointed outside with a shaky finger "...that."

Ayame looked out past the flaps with her smile still on "well if you are not a customer, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. These folks are customers so they can stay."

The man looked to the seats of the stand and saw that there were a few men and women eating ramen with shaky hands. There were even a few that were standing and leaning against the wall since all the seats were taken. He looked to Ayame with a pleading look "please let me stay here!"

Ayame shook her head with a disapproving frown "sorry but you are going to have to leave if you arent paying for a meal." she moved around the counter and began to push the man out of the stand and into the middle of the street. Once they were in the middle of the street she smiled and bowed "I hope the next time you come by, you will be a welcomed customer. She then walked back inside the stand and continued to work.

The man was freaking out as he was now in the open.

The costumers in the stand could only feel pity for the man as they focused on the bowl in front of them. However, they all shivered when they heard the man.

"Aaaaaaaahhhh no stop! I have a family! A little girl! Please NOOOOOOOO!"

"Mwahahaha than she will love this."

"NNNOOOOOOOOOO! AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Silence

The costumers shakily turned around to see the fate of the man and they could see that a death had occurred. The death of a man's dignity

The man was now wearing a pink ballerina dress that had a swan head coming out of where his belly button was. He wore makeup that was making the ale costumers blush as it was done so well that, if they didn't know any better, they might have mistaken him for a woman. It didn't help that the outfit was put on so tightly on his male pride that it seemed that it no longer existed. The man was also posed in a suggestive pose and for some reason, he wasn't moving

What they didn't know was that there was a seal tag attached to the man's back that paralyzed him, so all he could do was stand in the pose until someone came over and removed the tag

* * *

~a general store~

A fat male clerk stood behind the store counter as he looked around the store to see if he could catch any movement. "It's ok. What are the odds that he will come to this store?"

*clack*

"Eeeekkkk!" the man jumped in terror as he thought something happened. He brought his arms up as if to protect himself. After a few seconds of nothing happening, he opened his eyes and saw that he was alone. He looked down one of the aisles to see that it was just a broom that fell to the ground. He placed a hand on his chest as he sighed in relief "oh thank kami."

*thump*

He jumped a bit when he heard something and saw that a bag of rice that was on one of the lower shelves to his right had tipped over. He was starting to feel uneasy

*POP*

A balloon that was by the window popped and another balloon was floating by.

This made him even more worried as the ballon was orange.

The lights began to flicker on and off, causing the man to shiver in fear and silently beg. "I promise, I won't sell you rotten and expired food anymore. I promise I won't kick you out anymore...please leave me alone." he shivered as he looked around the store until the lights went off and only a small bit sunlight from the window shown. He froze when he heard a whisper right next to his ear

"It's too la~te."

"AAAAAAAHHHHHH

The lights turn back on, showing the man clad only in his underwear that was pulled over his head. He was also posed as if he was doing a swan dive while standing in front of the window. He gave a whimper as he felt pain from the wedgie and his member being squeezed from the said wedgie.

* * *

~on the streets~

A group of five men were slowly sneaking around trying to make sure that they would not get caught. They peaked around a corner to make sure that it was clear

"How far are we from your house?" spoke one of the men

"Not far. It's only a few streets down. Once we make it in there we will be safe."

"What about Kichi? He was in his own house when he was hit. What's to stop him from getting us in there?" asked another man as he looked behind them

"You got a better idea!?"

"SSSHHHHH"

Suddenly a woman's voice was heard "hey boys, can you help us?"

The group of men looked to their right, only to get bloody noses.

In front of them were a group of five women. Each of them all well endowed with large breasts and plump asses but what got them was the fact that each of them were naked and cover their modesty with their hands as best they could.

A young woman with brown hair, that was in a short ponytail. Shyly looked at the men "can you help us. We all lost our clothes and need help getting home."

A more mature woman that had long purple hair and wore glasses, spoke as if it was pure business "we could use some strong men like yourselves to help us."

A pair of twins that had short yellow hair pressed their breasts together, held both hands with each other, and spoke at the same time "We would love to pay you back if you help us."

The last woman had black hair, that flowed down to just above her ass and had the biggest breasts of them all, spoke last "mm~ we will repay you handsomely" she said as she licked her lips.

The men became drooling messes as they heard this and they threw away all caution to the wind and slowly got closer to the woman, who were gesturing them to come closer. As they got closer, they all lifted their hands and began to squeeze the air in front of them as if they were getting ready to squeeze the breasts in front of them.

However, once they made it halfway to the woman, they were suddenly enveloped in smoke, which caused them to squeal a bit. Once the smoke cleared each of the men were in different full-body costumes. A penguin, a chicken, a pig, a cow, and interestingly a Dodo.

The woman all stood up and all waved happily at the men as they all spoke "bye-bye."

The men were then launched in the air by a large springboard and they were sent flying to another part of the village

All the woman put their hand over their eyes as they watched the men fly as the woman with purple hair spoke "and they said that those animals would never learn to fly." then they all disappeared in a poof of smoke.

* * *

~Hokage Monument~

Naruto was rolling around, laughing on the ground as he got memory after memory of different pranks his clones were doing against the villagers. From exploding paint bombs, itching powder, a new tag that he made that made a surface extremely slippery and some horror-based scenarios that ended up with the target in silly positions. And then there were the perverted pranks. "Hahaha and Tenten told me that it was a useless jutsu hahahaha."

He continued to laugh for a long time as the whole village were all screaming for help. Unfortunately for them, this would keep going for a few more hours.

* * *

~later~

Haku and Sakura were walking back to the village streets from their training. They had spent all their time in the training field and didn't know what had happened.

Before they made it to the street Sakura stopped walking causing Haku to stop as well.

"Sakura-chan, is there something wrong."

Sakura steeled her nerves as she found this very hard to do. This was a bit of a surprise to her since she had no problem asking Sasuke out for a date but now she felt extremely nervous. 'It ould be that I never really loved Sasuke-san and only saw him as cool.' she gathered her nerves and spoke "Haku-kun...if ...you arent busy next Saturday….would you like to um… go out with me!" she yelled out the last bit, fortunately not the banshee shriek that she used to do thanks to Haku helping her tone down her voice.

Haku blushed at this as it was surprising for him to be asked out. He had never dated anyone before and he would be lying if he said that he didn't feel attached to the girl. He thought about this only for a second as he knew that he liked the girl. "Of course Sakura-chan. I would love to go out with you."

Sakura felt her heartbeat go critical as she heard his answer. She had a beaming smile as she spoke "great! I'm glad you accepted" she wrapped her arms around Haku's in happiness as they began to make their way back to the village.

Sakura's inner voice yelled out in happiness "**CHA he said YES!"**

The second they made it to the streets they paused at the sight of the villagers.

There were villagers dressed as animals, clowns, babies, naked and several other outfits. Some were stuck on walls, covered in paint and feathered. There were even some that were posing in the middle of the street.

Haku shook his head and asked one thing "Naruto?"

Sakura only nodded her head "Naruto. Good thing we were training most of the day."

"indeed"

* * *

End of chapter

Well here is the filler

Same as the bit at the top. This is not meant to make fun of anything. I just wrote this and it came out this way. It's meant for laughs.

To all my readers. I know that some of you did not like the fact that I paired Naruto with Ino and Hinata. I swear when I started this fic, I did not know where it would go and a pairing was not on the table at all. But at an early point, I was leaning more towards Ino than I was Hinata and then I started adding bits with Hinata. At one point in my head, there would be a conflict between Hinata and Ino on who would get together with him but it somehow became this. Overall I am sorry if you don't like that but I hope you enjoy the rest of the story. And besides, it's not really the main focus of the story, it's just kinda there. Which sounds like I just flippantly put it in.

Anyway, the next chapter will be another filler chapter but it focusses more on the other rookies. And in this, I ask you, do you have a pairing that you would like to see. I'm already changing some of the pairings (Haku and Sakura for example) so if you have one that you want to see then let me know. A couple of the different pairings I am already solid on but you can still voice your choice.

Hope you continue to enjoy the story and take care of yourself fellow Fanfic readers and writers

Please read, favorite, follow, and review


	44. The Genins' day in the village

Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech"**

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts' **

**Jutsu name**

(author comment)

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

**Review Responses**

Ryker55mc - yeah these kinds of chapters will always be spread out

Autobot-Wolfsketch - glad you enjoyed it

Gundam Meister Uzumaki - I am working on a potential first chapter and the prototype chapter will be posted on my story "One shot ideas and Chapter" at some point

SkylerHollow - nice name, I could use that

Otakumode - oooh that is a good one. And I have a plan that can make that work so yep that new ship is now taken. Shino now has a potential ship

Narudevilfan - I can understand that. I guess the reason it would feel like that is because all the interactions between Naruto and the two were, in a word "Offscreen". I couldn't really think of how to make more interactions between them.

Dragon man 180 - ….. :) enjoy

Guest - the women of the sexy harem jutsu were just random women I came up with. They aren't based on anyone. I just used some general anime sexy stereotypes: big boobs, slim waist, wide hips. Basically copy and paste body figures. Then I went with some simple fetishes: a mature woman, twins, seductresses. So I kinda cheated a bit.

* * *

Chapter 44: The Genins' day in the village

~Hiruzen~

Hiruzen felt his eye twitch, rapidly. What he was looking at was by far the most irritating thing that he had ever witnessed. "Might I inquire, what is it that you are doing?"

Tsunade was at the moment drinking some sake, while she ignored the pile of paperwork on her desk. She took a big sip from her cup before letting out a loud sigh of content "Ahhh that hit the spot!" Tsunade then looked to Hiruzen and smiled at him "you know Sensei, you always made this job sound a lot harder than it is. But I think it's fine. Don't know why you always griped about it."

Interestingly, Asuma was also in the room as he had a report to give on the mission he and his team went through. However, he was finding it hard to keep a straight face as he watched his father talk with Tsunade. He could tell that Hiruzen was trying his hardest to keep his composure.

Hiruzen's eye was now rapidly twitching. Any more and someone would think he was having a seizure. "Tsunade, please tell me what you are doing?"

Tsunade looked to him again and just gave a cheeky smile "having a drink."

Hiruzen turned to Shizune, who was standing next to the Hokage desk "Please tell me how this happened." He spoke in a calm voice but there was a trace of impatience in it as he also pointed at the Hokage chair, that was occupied.

In the seat….was Tsunade who was stamping papers with either accepted or rejected as well as signing her name on several documents. She would then hand it to another Tsunade, who looked over it before placing it in one of four piles, one being for accepted shinobi affairs, one for the rejected Shinobi affairs, one for accepted civilian affairs and the last for rejected affairs. There was another pile but the pile's location was a large trash bin in the corner of the room that Tsunade used as a small bit of accuracy practice.

Shizune smiled sheepishly as she spoke, "when Naruto came in for a mission some time ago, he noticed that Tsunade was having trouble keeping up with the paperwork."

The Tsunade, who was drinking on the couch, took another large gulp before raising her cup. "Ahh, I love that Gaki for telling me this. Even if he gave me more paperwork to do, _this_ makes up for it." She then looked to Hriuzen "oh he also left a message for you: 'Consider this payback for keeping those big secrets from me!'"

Asuma could not hold it in and he laughed at this. He knew about some of the secrets that Hiruzen chose to keep secret and understood the reasoning behind it but it would seem that Naruto has gotten his payback.

Hiruzen was now hurt, betrayed but most of all he was angry. And in a bit of unrelenting rage, he screamed out

"NNNNAAAARRRUUUUUTTTTTOOOOOOOOO!

The whole Village heard this shout and some were wondering what the boy had done this time in order to get the previous Hokage so angry

* * *

~Naruto~

Naruto was on guard duty for the east gate and was in the middle of having a traveling merchant sign himself into the village when he heard the shout.

The merchant looked towards the Hokage tower and asked: "what was that?"

Naruto smiled as he figured that his payback was complete. 'Take that Jiji.' he leaned back on his chair as he had a wide smile on his face "no idea. Maybe someone pissed off someone else in the tower. But who really knows?"

The merchant shrugged before he grabbed his traveling cart and began to pull it into the village.

Naruto spoke up before the man was out of earshot "welcome to Konoha." Once the man was gone he turned his head to look behind him to see a Gamakichi and a small black fox summon named Shinta, playing a game of poker, with a pile of candy as the prize. The fox was in the lead and from what Naruto could tell, it was because of sleight of hand. He never thought Foxes as evil as he himself along with his father are not but he would not deny that they are mischievous at times.

* * *

~Kiba~

Kiba was grumbling as he walked through the streets of Konoha. He had only just returned to the village after he and his team finished a C rank mission to deliver some documents to one of the neighboring small villages. But that wasn't what he was grumbling about

* * *

_~flashback~_

_Kiba was ready to get home and fall on his bed after they had to listen to an old man ramble about how important the document was for them. "What say that after we get home and take a nap, you and me go out for some training Akamaru?"_

_Akamaru who was perched on his head wagged his tail and gave an *arf* in agreement _

_Kiba saw the gate to his clan compound when suddenly his mother Tsume burst through the gate. This wouldn't be odd to him since he had seen his mom burst through the gates before when something urgent was happening but he saw that she wasn't going anywhere. She tackled one of the male clansmen to the ground with another older male holding a young grey ninken who Kiba assumed to be the younger clansman's partner._

_The young man was yelling out "Let me go! I can't stand it anymore! I need to get out of the compound NOW!"_

_His Ninken partner was barking in agreement_

_Kiba watched this go on and he then noticed that the man wasn't wearing anything. Not even underwear._

_Tsume held the man down before she growled "you idiot! Do you want to infect the rest of the village?! Are you going to let something like this beat you!? Stop being a fraidy cat and MAN UP!"_

_Kiba just felt his confusion grow as he spoke up "uh mom what's going on?"_

_Tsume looked to her left at Kiba and gave a strained smile "hey Pup. good to see you back from your mission. I'd say come in but I urg grrrr…." she paused when the man she was holding down jerked a bit trying to get up. She put more force in her hold before speaking again "I would recommend you and Akamaru spend a few days at one of your friend's place. You don't want to enter the compound until we get everyone treatment!" She was able to get to her feet with the man still in her grasp._

_Kiba was confused at what his mom meant when she said "treatment"._

_The man struggled more and got a hand free but he didn't try and hit Tsume to get free. All he did was begin to scratch his hair fiercely "damn that brat! AAARRRRGGGHHH GET THEM OFF! GET THEM OFF! GET THEM OFF!"_

_The ninken was able to get out of the older man's grasp before dropping to it's back and rub its body on the ground, whining pitifully._

_Tsume moved one of her hands to her head and scratched a bit before she dragged the man back inside. Before she was out of sight she shouted out to Kiba "be glad that you were out on a mission pup! Your friend went through another of his marathons!" She and the elder male were able to get the two back inside the compound but Tsume shouted one last time "DAMN THAT GAKI! WHERE DID HE EVEN GET THESE DAMN FLEAS!"_

_Kiba, Akamaru, along with a few civilians stood there staring at the gate of the compound trying to figure out what just happened_

* * *

~Flashback end~

"Damn it Naruto! Why the hell did you have to do this when I get back?!"

*Arf*

"Yeah, I guess you're right. If we were here then we would be hit too. But I was hoping to get some sleep damn it!"

"What's got you so wound up, dog boy?"

Kiba looked behind him to see that the one who spoke was the sand kunoichi that he fought in the Chunin exams "oh hey ...Temari right? What are you doing here?"

Temari walked up to him as she spoke "I'm here as a representative for Suna to discuss with the Hokage about a new treaty with our villages. Right now I have free time since the meeting is tomorrow."

Akamaru jumped out of Kiba's jacket and ran to stand in front of the girl. Wagging his tail he gave an *arf arf*

Temari smiled as she bent down and picked up the puppy who began to lick her face, causing her to laugh. After a second she pulled the dog away from her face and held him in her arms as she began to pet him. She looked at Kiba before she spoke: "so whats got you walking around looking like you lost your favorite chew toy?" she asked as she began to walk with Akamaru in her arms

Kiba grumbled at the jab at him but he let it slide as he began to walk with Temari "someone I know pranked my compound while I was out on a mission."

Temari looked to Kiba with a quirked eyebrow "who was it? and what did he do?"

Kiba grumbled a bit as he mumbled out "Naruto…."

Temari thought of the name before it hit her "you mean the blonde kid with the whiskers right?" she would have pointed out the fact that she saw him as a fox when she came to rescue Gaara but something like that seemed like it would be kept secret, so she kept it to herself.

Kiba growled a bit and nodded his head "yeah. Bastard hit my compound somehow and got everyone in there with fleas."

Temari couldn't help but laugh at this as she thought about the compound which was filled with dogs, to be infested with fleas. Though she did feel bad for them because of it, she still saw the humor in it. A random thought came to mind though 'how did he get them infected with fleas without himself being affected?' she shrugged at that thought before she looked to Kiba again, giggling a bit "he must be good if he was able to get a compound that would be able to sniff him out before he got there."

Kiba looked away as he clicked his tongue "tch, he isn't anything special. I could beat him easily!"

*Arf*

Kiba raised his fist and shouted at the dog that was still in the girl's arms "hey who's side are you on?!"

*arf bark*

Kiba slumped at this "yeah….but I still don't want to admit it." Kiba sighed as he scratched his head and spoke to Temari "out of all the genin, he is the strongest one."

Temari was stunned to hear this "really? Aren't any of the other Konoha genin at least close or stronger than him?"

Kiba gave a dry chuckle at this "you kidding? Did you see that….flame tornado thing he did during the finals? If he used that on any of us, we would be toast. Heck even in the academy, he was the fastest and stealthiest out of all of us. He outran Chunin, jonin, and even Anbu when they were chasing him because of his pranks."

Temari was stunned to hear that an academy student was outrunning the elite of the village. 'Either their Anbu are embarrassingly weak or the kid is ridiculously good.'

Kiba sighed as he stood up straighter "he is also the guy you listen to when he warns you about something. Heck, he was the one that told me not to underestimate you and go all out from the beginning of our match. If I didn't you would have beaten me in the first minute. I don't have any long-range jutsu so your fan would have finished me off."

Temari smirked at this "at least you know when you are outclassed."

Kiba crossed his arms as he grumbled: "yeah well next time I'll wipe the floor with you."

"I'd like to see you try." she kept walking before she looked to Kiba and asked "hey since you don't have anything else to do, mind showing me around the village. I don't know what this village has to offer."

Kiba sighed again as he knew that he didn't have anything better to do "fine, let's go."

*arf!*

"Oh shut it!"

* * *

~Hinata~

Hinata had walked into her family compound, however, there was no one there. No one from either the main family or the branch family were out. She wondered where everyone could be but she was brought out of her musing when she heard someone call out to her

"Onee-sama!"

Hinata looked to one of the tea rooms on her left, across the courtyard, to see her little sister and mother sitting at one of the tables. She smiled and made her way to them "hello Kaa-san, Hanabi-chan. Where is everyone? Was there an event that required every member to attend?"

Hanabi could not help but giggle as she remembered what had happened to the rest of the clan.

* * *

_~Flashback~_

_Hanabi and her mother Hitomi were sitting in the tea room watching as the other members of their clan tried to avoid whatever horror would befall them. As Hanabi took a bite out of her cracker she tried to think of what her Onii-chan would do this time. The last time that he went and did something like this to her clan, she had been confined in her room and had not seen some of the things that happened. Now she was interested to see what would happen. As she was thinking this, she heard a noise just above her._

_Hanabi and Hitomi looked up in time to see one of the ceiling tiles close up with a piece of paper falling down to them. _

_Hitomi reached up and grabbed it and looked it over before seeing the writing on it. It was a simple message "stay in this room" and at the bottom of the slip of paper was a chibi Naruto face with a victory sign._

_Hanabi had gotten up and looked at the note from behind her mother_

_Hitomi smiled as she put the note away and gestured for Hanabi to sit back in her own seat._

_Both Hanabi and Hitomi looked out to the courtyard at the other clansman. They waited for the first sign that tells them the show is about to start._

_Suddenly…..it started with a whipping sound_

_One of the clansmen that were walking around the large courtyard was suddenly captured by a rope trap. It dragged him into the koi pond that was on one side of it and he was submerged into the water. _

_The other clansman watched this happen and then the one taken broke the surface of the water and gasped for air. But he was no longer wearing his usual Hyuga robes. He was wearing a pair of swimming shorts, a snorkel, a life vest and a red flotation tube with white polka dots._

_Hiashi began to command his other clansman "Byakugans active! Don't let this menace grab you by surprise!"_

_Everyone had activated their dojutsu and looked for anything that would show where he was….but they saw nothing and they were beginning to wonder how._

"_Why can't we see anything?"_

"_Where could he be?"_

"_How can he hide from our ByakuhaaAAAAAAAAHH~!"_

_The last one was suddenly dragged away deeper into the compound until he was out of sight._

_This was just the beginning._

_Some of the males found themselves stepping on hidden traps that enveloped them in smoke before revealing them in different outfits. One dressed as a mouse, one crossdressed in a skirt and shirt that showed his midriff and one that was dressed as a mime._

_Many of the clansmen began to panic as they had flashbacks to the last time this happened and their Hyuga composure was beginning to crack._

_It was when one of them had stepped on another trap that launched him to the wall covered in a yellow like sticky substance. Normally he would have thought that it would be glue but when he got a taste of it he realized something "...Honey?" Suddenly, out of nowhere….a bear appeared and was eyeing the man with hunger in its eyes. The man was sweating now and tried not to make a move until the bear roared in his face and he ran for his life with the bear chasing after him._

_That caused everyone to panic and they all threw the plan out the window and ran for their sanity, unknowingly setting of traps left and right._

_Tripwires that covered them in tar and feathers. _

_A small explosion that made them end up on the wall in odd poses and looked like a kid's drawing with them as the characters._

_Hair changing into weird forms. One looked like a swan while another somehow had their hair formed into words that spelled out "Closet pervert" _

_And some ending up in green spandex like another shinobi of the village_

_Interestingly some of the women stepped on traps that dressed them in elegant dresses, kimonos, and ballroom gowns that they thought looked good on them and in a small bit of vanity …...they kept them_

_Hanabi and Hitomi laughed at some of the things that were happening to the other members of the clan and continued to watch as another male ran by with black and white makeup on his entire face._

_Neji was walking toward the gates of his compound as he and his team had gotten back from their mission early but he suddenly got a gut feeling telling him that he should NOT go inside. He would have questioned it but a chill ran up his spine which reminded him of that humiliation that happened to his fellow clansman. He turned on his heels and chose to walk away._

* * *

~Flashback end~

Hinata was giggling at the pranks that she heard her boyfriend had done to her clan. She was also glad that he had not done any real harmful pranks, beside the bear, which turned out to be a ninken under a genjutsu that they could not see through, from the Inuzuka clan that went with this to avoid being a victim of Naruto's pranks. At least that's what it told Hitomi alone before it left. She knew that Naruto did not like the Hyuga clan, as he did not like some of their practices and despised the Cage bird seal. If Naruto wanted he could have made those pranks far more harmful but instead all he did was gags.

Hinata's smile dropped a bit as she looked around the courtyard. This had happened while she was away so it could have been in the span of a few days so they should have left their rooms by now. "Is everyone still in their rooms?"

Hitomi nodded "yes. It would seem Naruto-san had learned how to use seals for his activities and it would seem that the outfits and substances that are on the clansman cannot be removed so easily. He had used seals to make them hard if not impossible to remove. Everyone should still be in their room trying to remove what they have been inflicted with." she laughed at the memory until she remembered something. She pulled out a scroll and handed it to Hinata "this popped up in the middle of all this and had a note saying this was for you."

Hinata nodded before taking the scroll and bowed before she excused herself. She bid her mother and sister a good day before she made it to her room. Once inside she opened the scroll to see it was a simple storage scroll. Channeling chakra into it she was delighted to see it was a plate of cinnamon buns. Once she finished enjoying her favorite treat, she went to her dresser and picked up a small piece of fabric that was next to a red ball of yarn. As she picked up the items she looked to the small fox plushie and smiled before speaking to it. "Thank you for not hurting my family Naruto-Kun." she sat down and began to knit. While she was knitting she heard someone walking by her door so she looked up and since her door was left open, she witnessed a few female Hyugas walking by in fancy outfits, talking animatedly. She giggled again "and for gifting a few of them such pretty dresses."

* * *

~Tenten~

Tenten was pissed. She had spent the last few days cleaning up the weapons of her shop since they were all painted different colors of the rainbow. She knew who to blame for this and she was going to use him for target practice for the next week because of this. This wasn't even the worst part. When she got back from the mission she, Neji and Guy came from she was horrified at seeing all the weapons that were on display. She had rushed over to one of the more expensive katanas. One that was made of pure chakra metal and she tried to take it off the display rack. Tried being the keyword. For some reason, it was attached to the rack and wouldn't budge from it. After a few tugs she tried with any of the other weapons and they were the same. She found a note on the counter that had a chibi Naruto face on the bottom. The note said that it would last a few days. It also said that the expensive weapons were only going to stay their color for that long as well. She wanted to kill the boy right then and there as she didn't believe that the weapons would just magically change back. If anything, every. Single. Weapon. Would have to be hand cleaned meticulously. After a few days had passed, she was shocked to see that the weapons had indeed changed back. All but a few but the ones that were colored were display weapons like kunai, shuriken, and windmill shurikens, foldable or solid. Another surprise was that once all the weapons were normal again a bag of money popped up on the counter with a note saying that he had taken a kunai set and that some of the extra money was for the trouble this prank might have caused the shop. Tenten's dad had cooled down after that. Tenten was just glad that she didn't need to look at a pink, FRILLY, Katana anymore. "I'm still going to get you for this Naruto!"

* * *

~Choji~

Choji was right now sleeping off a food coma as he and his whole family had gone through every ounce of food they had in food storage. As he was sleeping he dreamed what happened when he got home

* * *

_~Flashback, Dream~_

_Choji had come home to a horrific sight. He wanted to get a snack so he went to the kitchen and opened a cabinet….but it was empty. He went to the next one and opened it and saw the same thing. He was panicking as he continued this and every drawer, cupboard, pantry, and the cabinet was void of food. He was startled out of his panic attack when he heard a loud crash outside. He ran out to see every Akimichi pounding on what looked to be a scroll_

"_Smash it again! We need to open it!"_

_His clan were using their clan jutsu to smash open to scroll but they were having little to no success._

_Choji ran up to his father "what's going on?"_

_Choza looked down at his son with his arms crossed "your friend found a way into our emergency food storage and sealed away everything in there in that little scroll. We have been trying to get it open but none of us know seals and it's getting tough for us. We have been able to get by, by going out to eat but we need our food back."_

_Choji looked sad at this as he was looking forward to eating something when he got home but now he would just have to make due with the spare bags of chips in his room "alright, Imma head to my room and get some rest."_

_Choza nodded as he watched another Akimichi use his oversized hands to try and open the scroll, which was quite comical in his opinion_

_Choji made it to his room and opened a trunk that he used for storing extra chip bags. However, when he opened it, there was something else other than his bags of chips. It was a note. He picked it up and saw that underneath it was a seal tag. He gently picked it up and looked to the note. It read "hey Choji! Wrap this tag around the scroll to unlock it and get all the EXTRA food that's inside. If I'm right, no one noticed the genjutsu that was placed over the emergency storage, all the food is still there but hidden behind a genjutsu that my summons help me out with. The extra food is a way to make amends." Choji thought about one part 'huh I didn't know toads could help him in genjutsu.'_

_Choji ran outside with the tag in his hand and shouted "hey hey! Dad!" once Choji got to his father he spoke, telling him about the genjutsu and that the food that was inside the scroll was extra food that Naruto got for them._

_Choza ran to the underground emergency food storage and as he focused, he could see the slight ripple in the air signifying a genjutsu was indeed there. Placing his hand in the tiger seal he yelled out "KAI!" and a was said, all shelves and boxes were filled to the brim with food._

_Once the rest of the clan found out, they didn't hesitate in thanking Choji for bringing this up before they cooked all the food in the storage for the biggest feast in Akimichi history_

* * *

~Flashback end~

Choji was now snoozing after he had eaten all he could and he wasn't to only one. The rest of his clan were laying on the ground next to him sleeping off their own food coma. And amazingly there were leftovers, which was unheard of for the clan but they were so happy to get their food back that they cooked everything and the food storage was now REALLY empty. Luckily Choji would find another scroll in his trunk, something he missed, that was more food, which would help refill some of their stock.

* * *

~Ino~

Ino was sitting on her bed with her arms and legs crossed as she was glaring at the wall. She was grumbling about her boyfriend's latest prank on her clan.

* * *

~Flashback~

_Ino had made it home after her mission with her team but when she entered her family's flower shop, that doubled as her family compound entrance, she could already tell something was off. Usually, when she enters the flower shop she would see the counter, the shelves of flowers, and the register. It should have been like any kind of flower shop, but for some reason, she was in the clan meeting room. A room that was deeper in the compound. And sitting on the ground with his arms crossed was her father. "Daddy? What's wrong?"_

_Inoichi looked at her and smiled before waving at her_

_Ino was confused since normally, her father would get up and hug her and ask how her mission went "Daddy are you ok?" she then saw her father cup his hands around his mouth as if to shout at her. She braced herself for the loud shout but when she saw him yell, it sounded distant_

"_Ino-chan, it's good to see you home but can you hold on a minute!? Your mother will bring you to me!"_

_Suddenly Ino saw her mother walk through a wall and to her. She was so confused but she waited for her mother to get to her_

"_Welcome home honey. Come with me."_

_Ino's hand was taken by her mother and she was lead back the way her mother came. She shut her eyes when she thought she would hit the wall. But to her amazement, she walked through it. She suddenly found herself in the academy classroom. 'How did I get here?' she didn't get much time to think about it since the room disappeared and she was now in an alley in the village. This happened a few more times, appearing in different areas in the village until she found herself in a bar. Her father sitting on the ground next to what looked like a spilled drink._

_Inoichi looked up at the two and smiled "welcome back Ino-chan."_

_Ino was just confused as she looked around the bar but interestingly there was no sound. Not from the few costumers that were there or from the staff. She looked to her father in confusion "whats going on?"_

_Inoichi took a deep breath before he spoke "your friend Naruto-san had set up some sort of genjutsu barrier on the whole compound. It makes every room look like an area in the village. The worst thing is that it distorts someone's perception and we lose track of where we came from." he took another deep breath before continuing "if it weren't for the fact that he is using this on us, I would praise the boy for this kind of barrier. The weird thing is that it doesn't affect your mother so she had been able to walk around the compound and find some genjutsu tags scattered around the compound. She found a good amount but we can't seem to find the others." he said as he pulled out a small stack of tags._

_Ino thought about this for a minute before something caught her attention. "Wait how did you know I got home if this room just shows a bar?"_

_Inoichi pointed to a corner of the bar "when you got home, that corner changed into the front door and showed you coming in. I was thinking of why this would happen since it didn't do that for any of the other clansmen."_

_Ino took this piece of info and thought about it 'why would Naruto make it that it would show me coming home?' she thought about this for a minute until something came to mind. Looking to her mother she asked, "Hey mom, can you take me to my room?"_

_Noriko nodded and took her daughter's hand and lead her to her room on the second floor._

_Ino walked into her room and found herself in a forest. She looked around as she knew Naruto would put some clue or her to find since he did it with the front door thing. She then saw a tree in front of her had a normal paper sign on it. Ino didn't get closer since she didn't know if she would trip on a piece of her furniture. She noticed the paper was a message for her and read it._

"_Welcome home Ino! Master tag is on the back of your door." it ended with a Chibi Naruto with a chibi fox next to it._

_Since Ino was still next to her door, she reached behind her and slid her hand up the door, which looked like she was sliding her hand in the air, until she felt a slip of paper. She pulled the tag off the door and then the forest disappeared and she was in her room again_

_they both heard some voices downstairs shouting out "FINALLY!"_

_Noriko smiled as she looked to Ino "I'm going to make sure that everyone is alright._

* * *

~Flashback end~

Ino shook her head at what Naruto had done before she leaned back and leaned on the wall next to her window. Doing this, she saw the orange flower that Naruto order a bit of time ago. She moved to lean her head down on her windowsill as she poked it "I still have to give you to him." she smiled at that as she thought about him "Baka."

* * *

~Shino~

Shino was standing in his room with a gloomy aura over him. He had found out that Naruto had gone on another of his pranking marathons but for some reason, he didn't do anything to them. What he was told was that some members had seen him walking by with his arms behind his head but instead of going towards their compound, he just walked past it as if he didn't even notice their compound was there. The Aburame clan didn't know whether to be happy that he didn't notice them or feel hurt because he didn't notice them.

* * *

~Shikamaru~

Shikamaru was standing in the living room with his father who was also standing with him. They just stood there. They weren't the only ones, all the Nara men were in a similar position all over their compound. At first glance, it would look like they were just standing there looking at the wall but in actuality, they were stuck. They weren't paralyzed, they could move just fine but they found that they could not lift their feet from the ground. They would have tried to get out but they found it too troublesome. They would have laid down and used this time to relax but if they did and then found themselves unable to get up than the Naru woman would nag them about being too lazy

Shikamaru sighed as he knew who would do something like this and he could only say one thing "troublesome blonde."

* * *

~Sakura~

Sakura was looking through her wardrobe to find something to wear. She had a date with Haku that night and she didn't know what to wear so she threw one article of clothing out of her closet, trying to think of what to wear. "No….no….no….NO! Argh! I don't know what to wear!"

Haku had told her not to wear something fancy and that she should just wear something that she is comfortable with but Sakura still wanted to wear something that would impress him.

This is what Sakura's mother Mebuki walked into. She had heard her daughter grumbling to herself so she decided to see what was the issue. She got her answer when she saw all the clothes on the ground and the panic in her daughter's movements. She leaned on the doorframe as she spoke to get her daughter's attention "so who is it and what did he say?"

Sakura jumped at the sudden voice and looked to her mother "Mom! Don't scare me like that!"

Mebuki eyed her daughter "well?"

Sakura sighed as she sat on her bed "his name is Haku. he is a shinobi that my team and I met during the wave mission. He said that I shouldn't wear anything fancy but I still want to impress him."

Mebuki remembered being told about the wave mission. She grew concerned when she was told about the fight with a high ranking missing-nin but she was happy to see that her daughter wasn't disheartened about it. She is glad that she wasn't going out with one of her teammates. She never met them but for Naruto, she didn't trust the boy. She like many of the civilians held resentment towards him and she wanted her daughter to stay away from him, even if they were teammates. For Sasuke, she could tell from the get-go that what Sakura had for him was just unhealthy worship. It concerned her how bad it was but it seems that someone else has gotten Sakura'a attention and by the way she was acting, it seemed far more genuine. "How badly do you want to impress him and what did he say to you exactly?"

Sakura plopped back on her bed as she stared at the ceiling "I want him to like me and even if he said he would go out with me I don't know if I'll mess up. He said that I should wear something comfortable and easy to move in."

'Comfortable and easy to move in. ok, I know what kind of date this will be, now to help her out.' "ok let me help you pick out an outfit for your date." She said as she walked in the room and began to pick up the clothes that were on the ground

Sakura perked up and got to her feet and looked eagerly to her mother "thanks mom!"

"What's this about a date!?"

Both females looked to the door to see Kizashi standing there with a shocked look on his face

Kizashi looked to Mebuki and ask "is our little flower petal going out?!"

Mebuki sighed as she knew what was about to happen "yes dear, she is."

"NO! I FORBID IT! SHE IS TOO YOUNG TO GO OUT WITH BOYS! I WILL NOT ALLOW OUR PRECIOUS PETAL TO GO OUT WITH SOME BUM FROM THE STREET….."

Mebuki sighed as she knew her husband would act this way

Sakura dropped her head in embarrassment as she knew that the people on the streets could hear her father rambling

* * *

~later, night time~

Sakura was waiting at the meeting point. She was early as she was anxious about this date. She looked herself over and had to thank her mother for helping her. She was wearing a form-fitting red shirt that was tucked in a pair of white short shorts that were held by a black belt. She wore a silver bracelet on her right wrist. For footwear she wore dark burgundy boots and in her hair, instead of her hitai-ate, she wore a red hairband.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." (cliche I know)

Sakura looked to her right to see Haku waking up to her.

He was wearing a light blue Kimono with what looked to be a wave pattern on the bottom of it. He had let his hair down, which fell to the middle of his back.

Sakura could not help but blush at his look. If she didn't know any better she would have assumed that Haku was a girl. **"****Cha! He looks better than we do!" **She walked up to him as she smiled "sorry. I arrived early because I was….anxious."

Haku smiled at this "you don't need to be." he held out his hand for her to take "shall we?"

Sakura brought her hand up to take Haku's "sure."

They both left, arm in arm, to start their date

* * *

~Later~

Haku and Sakura were walking through a park heading to what Haku said would be the final stop. They had enjoyed dinner at one of the high-class restaurants, and Haku had been able to get a table since there weren't many people there. The staff had said that it was empty because a lot of people are still recovering from Naruto's pranking. Needless to say, the both of them were thankful for it. Even though there were very few people in the restaurant there still were some gossipers around them and it turned out that they had assumed that Sakura was out on a date with another girl.

Sakura knew the truth but felt a little embarrassed by the fact that it looked like it. However, Haku made her feel better by placing his hand on hers, which caused Sakura to no longer care if that was how it looked and ignored everyone else.

After the dinner, they spent time going through some tourist sights of the village and even though Sakura knew about them, she had enjoyed herself.

Sakura was wondering where they were going since she had not been in this park before.

"Here we are."

Sakura looked to see that they were at a large lake in the middle of the park. She thought it looked beautiful since the full moon was shining on the water's surface. "It's beautiful but what are we going to do here?"

Haku smiled as he released Sakura's arm and walked forward. Once he made it to the edge of the lake he looked to her "wait one moment."

Haku began to water walk to the center of the lake and Sakura could not take her eyes off Haku as it was breathtaking to see him with the moon being reflected off the water and on to him.

Once Haku was in the center he turned to Sakura and did a one-handed handsign. Suddenly the water began to freeze from where he was standing.

Sakura watched this and was still confused on what he was doing. Once she saw that he was done she walked forward to look at the frozen lake. Interestingly the ice wasn't the white frost that frozen water usually looks like, instead it was crystal clear. Like glass.

Haku walked up to her and bent down while gently lifting her shoe

"Haku-Kun? What are you….?" she was answered when she saw that her show now had a skate blade, made from ice.

Haku did the same thing with the other shoe before he stood up and he just lifted his own foot and his sandals gained the same.

Sakura now knew what they were going to do and spoke in a nervous tone "Haku-Kun I don't know how to Ice skate."

Haku smiled as he helped her onto the ice "don't worry Sakura-chan, I will guide you." and he did.

At the start, Sakura kept tumbling, but before she would ever fall, Haku would catch her in his arms. Soon though they began to skate around the whole lake. Haku guided Sakura into it and it then became a dance on the ice with Haku guiding and twirling her. They continued this for a while, Ice dancing in the moonlight, without a care on the rest of the world.

As of now, all they cared about was the person they were with.

* * *

~Meanwhile~

Sasuke was sitting on the roof of his old home in the Uchiha compound. He had spent days wondering what to do now and reflecting on his life in the village. He looked at the Uchiha symbol on the street wall until he felt a few presences behind him. "What do you want?"

Behind him were four individuals, each wearing similar outfits that seemed to be a variant of Orochimaru's outfit.

One that had six arms was the one to answer him "Orochimaru has a proposition for you."

Sasuke thought about this for a bit before he got to his feet and looked at the four "I'm listening."

* * *

End of chapter

Well here's the next chapter

Originally this was going to be just normal stuff that the genin did but I was having a tough time thinking of things they would do besides training. Then I got a review from Dragon Man 180 asking for what had happened to the clans and it had become this

It might have been obvious what Haku would do with Sakura on their date but I thought it worked well to improve their relationship. I had a tough time thinking of an outfit for Haku and Sakura. In the end, I chose to put Haku in a kimono as it was how he came up to Naruto when they first met. Sakura I chose to use simple clothing. I really don't know the level of fashion in the universe so if it's a problem, I can't really back it up but neither can any haters :P. If anything it could be seen similar to her Shippuden outfit a bit

Temari knows about Naruto. She doesn't know the story but she had seen him as a fox at the end of Naruto and Gaara's fight. Just to stop anyone from asking how Temari knew, when I made it that she saw it

For the Mebuki bit, I made her more down to earth since in the show she is almost as exuberant as Sakura when she was a fangirl. Had to rewatch some clips with Sakura acting like a fangirl and as it did before, it is hard to watch. Cringeworthy really.

Next chapter will be more serious. Most of it will be filler but it will bring up something that I want to show with Naruto.

Over 1000 Favs Yay. it's a little weird to me since some of my favorite stories that I thought were great have less than what I have and stories that have been out longer as well have less. But I just chalk it up to me not really being better but writing something interesting enough for the favs and follows

Please Read, favorite, follow and review


	45. The dark side of a mission

Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech"**

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts' **

**Jutsu name**

(author comment)

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Beta read by: not yet beta'd

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

**Reviews corner** (just how I'm going to call this from now on)

Otakumode: glad you thought it was funny.

Realfan16: technically it's not that unbelievable. I mean if we base things solely on rank then Naruto should never have been able to beat most of his opponents. Throughout the Naruto series, he has beaten chunin and jonin rank shinobi. Heck he beat Gaara when he let the Bijuu take over. Regardless, glad you thought it was funny.

Zafnak: thanks. I was afraid that some people wouldn't get it

SkylerHollow: I plan on giving Orochimaru a different headache.

Magus0096: I wasn't really hating on the Aburame. The pranks I did on the clans are based on certain quirks of the clan. For the Aburame, it was based on how they are usually not noticed by most

Innovaquantum: yeah Tsunade was using the shadow clones. I didn't state it really but I insinuated it heavily with the scene in the office. Ture for NAruto but right now they aren't at war. I have a plan for Sasuke, all you can do is read and find out

Bloody Rogue dragon deity king: not really sure about the team being sent and I have an idea on the leaving

* * *

Ok everyone before we begin this chapter I want to state here and now that this chapter is darker compared to the previous chapter. It has a scene that I myself hate because of what I did but I put it in as it reveals some things that may have not been clear before about Naruto and shows something about the world as well. I will clarify what I mean at the end but don't skip ahead and read that…..that's cheating.

Hope you all are taking care of yourself and taking precautions against the C-Virus. (it's what I call it. ;-) )

* * *

Chapter 45: A revelation and the dark side of a mission (WIP)

Naruto was walking the streets of Konoha while ignoring the usual glares he got from the villagers. At this point, he had gotten so used to it that he would consider a day he wasn't glared at to be abnormal. Something that he noticed was that he wasn't glared at as much as before and he only realized this when he didn't feel as much hatred as before. But right now he didn't care about any of that since he saw his destination. "Ok, this should get baa0chan to stop nagging me." before he got any closer he put himself into a ****henge**** to make himself look like a man that was in his thirties with brown hair and eyes, wearing normal civilian clothes. Walking up to the door, he knocked and waited.

The door opened to an elderly man with grey hair. The man looked up at the brown-haired civilian and smiled "ah welcome! Please come in."

Naruto walked in, ready to get this over with.

* * *

~Konoha park~

Sasuke was sitting on a bench, staring at nothing in particular in front of him. He was thinking about what had happened last night. Four shinobi from Oto had come to him and offered him a chance at gaining the power he needed in order to kill his brother. During the whole meeting, he didn't say anything and just listened to them and after they said their piece they gave him a week to think over the offer. At that time if he agreed, he was to meet them at a certain meeting point outside the walls of Konoha. When he heard the offer, he immediately thought of just going with them right then and there…..but then he remembered the truth that his brother had told him. Power was all he ever wanted ever since the massacre. Power to kill his brother. Now though, he didn't know what he wanted. A part of him was telling him that he should accept it for the power and to kill his brother but this thought always came with the burning of his curse mark. He soon realized that the voice that kept telling him to accept the offer was coming from the mark itself. The rest of him didn't really know what to do and that is why he sat here, thinking about what he should do next.

"Ryo for your thoughts?"

Sasuke was a bit startled at the voice and turned his head to look behind him only to see it was Kakashi. Sighing a bit he went back to staring in front of him with a far more subdued "...hm"

Kakashi eyed Sasuke for a second before he reached into his weapons pouch and instead of pulling out his usual little orange or green book, he pulled out a booklet and began to skim through it. He walked forward to be in Sasuke's view as he said "hmm? That one isn't in here. I think I should let Naruto-kun know that I have discovered a new word for you."

Sasuke looked up at Kakashi and noticed what he was reading. It was the little booklet that Naruto had given Kakashi when they first became team 7. He scowled at the thing "I can't believe that you still have that thing."

Kakashi just turned the page as if still trying to find what he was looking for "it helped me understand you a bit…..and thanks to making a few copies I made a little bit of pocket change from your fans." he said as he made the hand gesture for money "don't tell Naruto-kun though. If he found out he would prank me with my worst nightmare."

Sasuke scoffed as he went back to staring "you sound like you are afraid of the dobe."

"I _am _afraid of him."

Sasuke was now confused because of that statement and gave Kakashi and incredulous look

Kakashi eye-smiled as he put the book away. "You may have not noticed but that boy is a genuine prankster."

"So?"

Kakashi looked to his left as he spoke: "the boy is a prodigy."

Now Sasuke just didn't believe him but he let Kakashi continue

"Naruto-Kun may not be a prodigy like you when it comes to taijutsu, ninjutsu, or even genjutsu but he is amazing at stealth, speed and has an unorthodox way of doing things. And all of this can be seen in his pranks. When he wants to prank someone, he spends a LOT of time going over how he can do it, how long it might take, what he needs to get it done and if he can get away with it. He memorizes walking patterns of patrols, habits of theirs that can help him, and every guard rotations. If I hadn't seen him do all this, I wouldn't believe it but he is that kind of genius. I have been on the receiving end of those pranks and they can be scary at times."

"Are you saying he is the best shinobi in the village?!" Sasuke was angry at the praise that the dead last of his class was getting for things that he himself begrudgingly admitted to himself that he could not do.

Kakashi shook his head as he looked at Sasuke "no. don't get me wrong, he has talent when it comes to pranks, which if he put his mind to it, could make him work great at infiltration but he is still just a genin….well Chunin now, but he is still the same Naruto-kun we all know." 'not to mention he is a miniature bijuu.'

Sasuke grew wide-eyed at this "he was made a Chunin!?"

Kakashi nodded "yes. During the whole Chunin exams, he had done several things that help in the decision in making him a Chunin. Not just him but Shikamaru-san was also given the rank."

Sasuke felt anger at not being given the rank, as well as a voice in his head, was speaking to him _**'**__**see. They shame you, giving what you deserve to someone else.'**_ Sasuke shook his head as he tried to ignore the voice "hn!"

Kakashi eye-smiled at this "ah there's the response I'm used to…...but back onto the original topic. Mind telling me what's bothering you?"

Sasuke kept quiet for a minute before he spoke "what does it mean to be part of this village?"

Kakashi thought about the question for a minute before he answered "that depends on who you ask. Some would say to just live as you can, others might say that it is to be part of something powerful but too many, including the Hokage, it is to be part of a family."

Sasuke looked up at Kakashi as he continued to speak while looking towards the Hokage Monument.

"The Hokage sees everyone in the village as family and they do their best to keep that family safe. To shinobi out of this village, Sarutobi-sama was considered the god of shinobi and even if there are many of us that still consider that, we also see him as a sort of grandfather of the village."

Sasuke thought about that and remembered that Naruto often called the old man "Jiji".

"Now, why don't you tell me why you asked me the question."

Sasuke sighed "I learned….something that made me question what I know and what I wanted."

Kakashi sat down on the bench next to Sasuke and waited for the boy to continue.

"After I learned this, I began to think about what I really wanted from my life now and if there was anything that I value here."

"About time you started to think about that."

Sasuke scowled at Kakashi but the man countered it with a hard stare

"Sasuke-Kun, you have been so focused on killing Itachi for so long and have belittled everyone around you. You don't respect your elders, your superiors, your fellow genin or even your teammates. You saw everyone in this village as a hindrance, a shackle and you would step all over everyone if it meant you would get something you wanted. You are an Uchiha and in your head, you think that alone gives you the right to anything." Kakashi sighed as he looked forward "a name is just that: a name. In the shinobi world, it will only get you either enemies. If you don't have anyone to stand with you, then you won't go far in this world." Kakashi thought about how he had grown up and remembered his friends that he thought might make something clear to Sasuke. "You know, you remind me of me when I was younger."

Sasuke was a little stunned at this

"When I was a genin, I spent my time on my own. I saw myself as better than my teammates and I didn't think that I needed them. But as I continued to do missions with them, I grew fond of them and one of them became my best friend. My teammates were named Rin and Obito. Me and Obito were always butting heads with Rin being the one that tried to keep us from arguing too much. Rin was the glue that kept our team together and Obito was the goofball that always got in trouble. Actually, he kind of reminds me a bit of Naruto."

Sasuke thought about the two and couldn't remember a time of ever hearing about them before. "What happened to them?"

"They gave their lives for me."

This caught Sasuke's attention

"The first was Obito. It was during the third great shinobi war, we were tasked in taking out a bridge that would hinder the enemy's movement. During the mission, I lost an eye and Obito was fatally injured. As a late birthday gift..."Kakashi chuckled at this "...he offered up his own eye." he moved his hand to press two fingers over the spot his Sharingan eye was

Sasuke grew wide-eyed at this revelation

"His full name was Obito Uchiha. He saw the world much differently than you did. He didn't think of himself as better than anyone. He always struggled to get anything right and would constantly try and one-up me. He was a bit like Naruto was when he was in the academy. Brash, loud and stubborn to a fault. But he always thought of himself as an equal to his friends." he looked to Sasuke again "he was an Uchiha, like you, but his view on things was more like Naruto."

Sasuke thought about this for a second before another question came to his mind "what about Rin?"

Kakashi felt the sting in his heart at this as he looked to the sky "she gave her life to save the village."

Sasuke was a little apathetic about the idea but he remembered that his brother had essentially done the same thing. He made a major sacrifice and took the blame so the village could continue to live on and the Uchiha to retain honor that he was starting to believe they didn't deserve.

Kakashi looked at Sasuke once more "if you continue the way you have been going then you will find yourself standing alone, with no one on your side and even if you think that you can handle that, let me tell you, it's far better if you have someone that will have your back."

* * *

~Naruto~

Naruto was signing a piece of paper, making sure that the man behind him didn't see the name. Once it was signed he folded the piece of paper and smiled at the other man. "Well, I am going to deliver this to the Hokage myself."

The other man chuckled "that excited huh? Well, you can most certainly do that. Once she has it, then it's all yours. I plan on going to meet with my family after this."

Naruto nodded as he extended his hand "well thank you for this and don't worry. I will hand the money over to the Hokage along with this signed document and you will receive your payment once everything is processed."

The man took Naruto's hand and shook it. "Pleasure doing business with you."

Naruto left the building and began to walk away at a steady pace. Once he knew he was out of sight, he made his way into an alley and undid the **henge**. Looking at the document in his hand, he smiled, jumped to the rooftops and began to make his way to Hokage tower at a much faster pace.

* * *

~Hokage Office~

Tsunade was looking over a few papers that were on her desk as Shizune sat on the couch and had some tea. The workload had dropped exceptionally thanks to Naruto telling her about using shadow clones to do the work, which is why right now she was doing the work herself. She was brought out this when the door burst open

"Hey Baa-chan!"

At this point, it has become an automatic action when she picked up a paperweight and tossed it to the person at the door while shouting "how many times I gotta tell you not to call me that!"

Naruto shifted to his left to dodge the thrown projectile with a smile on his face. His smile grew when he knew the best response to tick her off even more. He didn't really know why he enjoyed pushing her buttons but it was just fun to do "about five thousand more times until I stop."

Shizune and Tonton had a sweatdrop at the boy's answer.

Tsunade instead had a tick mark before she calmed down a bit. "What do you want brat?"

Naruto moved to stand in front of the desk before he placed down the document that he had signed by the man he met earlier and his own signature. "Here."

Tsunade looked over the document before looking up at Naruto with wide eyes "how did you even get the money for this?"

Naruto had his foxy smile before he pulled out a small storage scroll. He placed it on the ground before he unsealed its contents. After the large poof of smoke cleared, a massive amount of money was piled on the ground.

Tsunade, Shizune, and Tonton were all gaping at the massive pile of money. In fact, they all had to back away a bit since the money took up a lot of space in the office

Naruto climbed to the top of the pile to look at Tsunade, trying to make sure he didn't hit his head since the pile was that high "when me and Ero-sennin were looking for you, I went to a casino and played there for a bit. By the time I was done, I won all the money they had in the building and they asked me to leave since they didn't have any more to give."

Tsunade was staring at the pile and a part of her was drooling at the sight as this could pay off a large portion of her debt. She shook her head to get that thought out of her head before he looked to Naruto "mind putting all this away?"

Naruto nodded as he dug into the pile of money and swam through it to get to the scroll at the bottom.

This infuriated not only Tsunade but a couple of the hidden Anbu as none of them has ever seen such a large amount of money in their life. Suddenly the money disappeared and the greedy part of them were weeping at the loss

Naruto shook himself like a dog to get the weird feeling off him, with a few Ryo popping out of his hair.

Tsunade got out of her sorrow before she spoke again "well, it's good that you finally did what I asked. It's going to take a couple of days before all of it is set but as of right now, it's yours."

Naruto smirked as he thought about what he would do with it afterward.

Tsunade smirked at the boy before she remembered something. "Actually, this is perfect. I have a mission that I want you to take."

Naruto looked to Tsunade as she continued

"We received reports on a group of bandits raiding several of the smaller villages. The mission is for you to take them out." she finished up by handing the mission scroll to Naruto

Naruto took the scroll and opened it to skim it "do I go alone or do I get a team?"

Tsunade sighed as she pulled out a roster that had all available shinobi. She spoke as she flipped through the pages trying to find anyone. "Our forces are spread thin thanks to the Suna invasion so I don't have many shinobi that can go with you. You might have to take this one on your own….." she stopped when she saw someone that would work well with him was available "Wait, there is someone that can join you."

Naruto nodded his head ready to hear who would join him.

* * *

~Later~

Naruto was on his way towards the forest of death since he was basically done with all he wanted to do for the day. He was thinking about going hunting again so he could have something for dinner. While he was thinking about catching a rabbit for dinner, a couple of Hyugas appeared in front of him, forcing him to stop. He looked up at the two and could feel the disdain they had for him but he ignored that

"Hiashi-sama would like a word with you."

Naruto hated the fact that this was said as an order instead of a request. He wanted to just brush them off but he wasn't in the mood for a fight so he just nodded his head. He saw them get closer to him and he felt that he still needed to tick them off. He smirked as they got closer and then he suddenly jumped away towards the Hyuga compound.

The two Hyugas were stunned by this until they shook this off and chased after him

* * *

~Hyuga compound~

Naruto landed in front of the gates of the Hyuga compound a few seconds before two tired Hyugas jumped down behind him. He looked back and smirked at them as he had spent the last thirty minutes leading them all around the village at full speed until the Hyugas began to run out of stamina. 'Gotta love having Bijuu stamina'

**"****Be glad for that because, without it, you wouldn't have been able to do many of the things you do."**

'I know tou-chan.' Naruto turned to the gate guards and could feel the hatred from them, as if the glares they were giving him weren't enough "Hiashi-san is expecting me."

The Hyugas both glared at him due to the lack of respect you showed "show some respect for your betters you little...!"

Naruto was in no mood in dealing with the typical crap so he interrupted the man "look, you don't want me here and I don't really want to be here…" 'unless it's to prank the hell out of you stuck ups' "so just let me go and meet him so I can leave."

Both guards and the escorts were on the verge of killing the boy at the disrespect he was showing but they agreed with the logic. Faster he dealt with whatever business Hiashi wanted with him the better. The guards stepped aside and opened the gate

Naruto crossed his arms as he walked in and had an angry expression as the escorts moved ahead of him to show him the way, even if he already knew where it was. As he was making his way through, he could feel a spike of anger and hatred from almost every Hyua he passed by. 'I'm going to prank you all again if you keep this up.' as he was walking through one of the hallways, he saw that ahead of him was Neji.

Neji saw that Naruto was walking with a couple of escorts and assumed that they were leading him to Hiashi. He stood there as Naruto passed. He didn't really know what to say to him after what had happened during the Chunin exams. He still remembered how almost everyone in the audience was all calling for the blonde's death. After he awoke in the hospital room and heard the story about the incident with his father, he thought about how rough the blonde must have it compared to him. He was revered as a prodigy and the Hyuga family praised him for everything, even though he was part of the branch family and meant to serve the main family. Naruto, however, seemed to have the entire village against him, as if he was a war criminal brought to his own execution. Who had the worst fate between the two…..and who was the one fighting against it the most?

Nauto walked past Neji. they didn't look at each other, they didn't even acknowledge each other. And Naruto was fine with that. What did catch his attention was the fact that he didn't feel any negative emotion from Neji and the Hyuga didn't even scowl at him like the rest did. 'Maybe that stick up his ass finally fell out.'

After a bit more walking he made it to the front of Hiashi's office and one of the escorts knocked lightly on the door

"Yes?"

The escort cleared his throat "Hiashi-sama, Uzumaki-san is here to see you."

"He may enter."

The escort moved to the side before he opened the door to let him in.

Naruto walked in and moved to stand in front of Hiashi who was sitting down at a low table

Hiashi looked up at Naruto and gestured for him to sit

Naruto sat on the other side of the tale and waited to hear what the head of the Hyuga clan wanted.

Hiashi placed his hands on his lap as he started "I will get straight to the point. I have been informed by a few of my clansmen that you have entered a relationship with my daughter. I wish to know what your intentions are with her."

Naruto twitched when he heard this but he kept his scowl up. "To live happily with her." he answered sharply as he still held resentment towards the man.

Hiashi kept his composure from the answer. "Even though you are already in a relationship with the Yamanaka heiress."

Now Naruto was getting agitated

"How can you believe that you have any right to be with my daughter when you are already courting another? From what I can see you are merely playing with the two and most likely going to toss them aside the second that you tire of them." Hiashi spoke as his face grew less stoic and more angered however he was stopped when he felt a large amount of KI. the amount wasn't something that he expected to come from a newly made Chunin. The amount was something he expected from someone like the Sarutobi or one of the sannin.

Naruto was now furious. 'How dare he. How dare he even think that I am just playing with them!'

Hiashi looked into the eyes of the boy and saw that his pupils had become slitted

"You say that I have no right to be with her, but what right do you have on anything that Hinata-chan chooses to do with her life?"

Hiashi regained his composure, even though he felt some sweat run down his neck "I am her father and I have every right to….."

"YOU DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO CALL YOURSELF THAT!" Naruto slammed his hands into the table causing it to break in two. "She had told me how you look at her with disappointment every time she lost in a spar. You favor Hanabi-chan just cause Hinata-chan doesn't want to hurt her imouto! You don't give her any help when she needs it and you focus more on the traditions your clan have. You seemed to approve on how Neji had nearly killed Hinata-chan during the exams instead of showing concern for her. You don't get to call yourself her father!" Naruto took a deep breath to calm his nerves and pull back his Bijuu chakra. "I care a lot about Hinata-chan and I will continue to be with her until she chooses not to be with me. Her and Ino-chan both."

Hiashi still maintained his composure despite all that had just happened "I still do not approve of your relationship with her."

"Neither does the rest of your clan and most of the village. But if I need the approval of a Hyuga, there are only two that I need and you are not either of them."

Hiashi felt his temper grow as he activated his Byakugan

Naruto smiled as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a seal tag and slapped it on his chest.

For a second Hiashi saw the outline of the boy and the mass of chakra that took up the inside, the next he disappeared from his sight altogether. He looked around to see if he could spot the mass of chakra that was Naruto Uzumaki but he couldn't see anything

What Hiashi didn't realize was that Naruto had not moved from his spot. Naruto smirked as he watched Hiashi look around as if he was blinded and in a sense he was. The seal tag that he had just slapped on himself was something he had Hinata help him with. It is basically a concealment seal specifically made to be completely invisible to those using the Byakugan. It basically makes the chakra that is normally visible to the Byakugan disappear and then makes the basic outline and coloration of the rest of the body blend in with the surrounding area. He had gone through so many different formulas with his clones to come up with this but after a couple of weeks trying, they had finally got it right. It was the reason he was able to get past all those using the Byakugan during his last pranking war. The second all the clan members turned on their dojutsu, he had become practically invisible to them and he had just walked up to them and placed some tags that changed their outfits. If they had kept their dojutsu off, it would have been a lot harder to do since unlike before when he spent so much time setting up the traps in the middle of the night, he was in the middle of the compound and in broad day time. He even got a few chuckles from Hitomi and Hanabi when they saw him walk out and acted silly in front of the panicking Hyugas

Naruto got up from his seat and moved to the door as he spoke "I will continue to be with Hinata-chan and I will do anything to make her happy." he opened the door moving to leave

Hiashi went wide-eyed when he heard the voice of Naruto but he could not see him. Turning his head towards where he heard the voice he turned off his Byakugan and then saw Naruto standing by the doorway giving him a smirk.

"Boo." and with that, he walked out of the room and closed the door

Hiashi thought about what had just happened. He had caught a glimpse of a tag on the boy's chest and remembered when he activated his dojutsu, the boy moved his hand and pulled something out and placed it on his chest. He realized that the boy had created a seal that made the Byakugan useless with a seal. 'That boy was always considered a danger and now I see he is becoming far more dangerous!'

* * *

~ Next day~

Naruto was standing by the main gate of Konoha, waiting for his partner for this mission. He didn't have to wait long as she dropped down in front of him "morning Anko-nee-chan."

Anko was chewing on some Dango as she waved at Naruto. She swallowed before speaking "morning gaki. Ready to go?"

Naruto nodded his head as he began to walk out the gate, while waving to the gate guards

Once a bit away from the gate Anko asked "are you shifted or **henged**?" she asked as she really didn't want to hear his screams again.

Naruto could feel the worry coming from Anko and spoke "I'm in a shift right now but you don't have to worry about it. Shifting no longer hurts me so much anymore and it only takes a minute or two now." he knew that Anko hated the times she was asked to watch over him during those times and that she didn't know about the change that made it so much easier.

Anko looked at Naruto with shock "how?!"

"Let's just say that another part of me is no longer normal."

Anko thought about what he said and figured that more of him was now made of chakra "you really are becoming a full Bijuu aren't ya?"

Naruto turned around and began to walk backwards "but I'm still me!" he said with a big smile on his face

Anko laughed at this before she ruffled his hair "got that right! Now come on! Faster we get there and take them out, the faster we can get back home!"

Naruto nodded before he turned back around got down on all fours and leapt into the trees with Anko right behind him

* * *

~ a few days later~

Naruto and Anko had at the last village that was attacked by the bandits and were told in which direction they went.

Naruto was able to find them using his nose to look for any humans in the direction they were told.

Now it was night time and Naruto and Anko were in the trees looking down at bandit camp. They counted around fifty or so and were right now just observing

Anko looked to her right at Naruto "so how you wanna do this Gaki?"

Naruto smirked back at Anko "give me a minute. I'm going to send in a clone to see if there are any that we don't see."

Anko nodded as she leaned against the tree and watched Naruto create a clone and have the clone ****henge**** into a small little gecko. "I still think it's amazing how well you are at the **henge**."

Naruto just watched the little clone gecko walk down the tree as he spoke: "I practiced that jutsu so much that I think I can call the jutsu mine and everyone else is just stealing."

Anko tried to hold in her laughter as to not let the bandits know that they were there.

Naruto and Anko just sat on the branch looking down on them as they waited for the clone to either return or dispel.

After waiting for a good fifteen minutes, Naruto stiffened as he gained a dark look.

Anko noticed this and was about to ask what was wrong but she stopped when Naruto got into a crouching position and created a clone. She watched as he nodded to the clone and put his arms around it as if giving a gentle hug, which Anko thought was weird. But the next second the clone was replaced. Anko's eyes widened when she saw that Naruto was now holding an unconscious little girl, probably around the age of four or five, and was covered in blood. "Naruto is she…"

Naruto held the little girl close to him "...it's not hers…" Naruto made another clone and handed the girl to it before turning his head down to the bandit camp with his eyes shadowed by his hair. "Anko- nee-chan, let me deal with them…." he said in a soft tone as he began to take off his jacket and shirt.

She could hear the hurt in his voice "are you sure?" she received her answer when he removed his hitai-ate, bracers, greaves and sash, letting his pants fall. She figured what he was about to do and took the clothes he took off before she and the clone moved further into the forest.

Naruto was now naked as he dropped to ground level, while still hiding in the shadows of the trees. He felt his body becoming bigger as he began to shift into his fox form. They would not get away from what they did so easily. He would make sure of that

The bandits were laughing around the campfire while drinking some of the alcohol that they stole from the last village

"Haha, that last village was an easy score!"

"Pfft they didn't have any decent women in that village. Nothing but old hags."

"We still have the ones from the other village!"

"Now you're talking! Think I'll have a taste right now!"

"Hey! you already went a bit ago ya piss-ant!"

"Yeah? Blow me!"

"Not my job hahaha!"

**"****GRRRRRR *hiss*"**

All the men stopped talking when they heard a loud hissing growl come from the forest."

One of the bandits got up and pulled out his sword "what was that?"

Another smirked as he pulled out a jagged ax "dinner. Whatever animal it is, we can kill it and eat it."

Every other bandit began to take out their weapons getting ready to kill the animal that was coming closer. Suddenly the campfire that they had suddenly exploded into an inferno in the air before the fire looked to be sucked back in until it was snuffed out. The whole thing caused them all to be shaken up.

A few of them heard some rustling to their right in the bushes and looked over, only to see a set of glowing yellow eyes.

Another group of the bandits saw a pair of glowing black eyes in another part of the woods

Soon every single bandit saw a different pair of glowing eyes all around the forest and that is when they started to hear….

"You …..killed me….

The bandits looked towards the voice to see a man that had his arm cut off, leg bent in an odd angle and was covered in blood.

"You stole my husband from me"

Turning around they saw a woman that had a large gash on her neck which was pouring blood out

The bandits continued to hear different voices all around them and they continued to see bloody and mangled people

One of the bandits screamed out "didn't we kill these people already? How are they still alive!?"

Another bandit shook his head "who cares! Kill them again!"

The rest of the bandits cheered and went to attack all the walking corpses but when they swung their weapons, the corpses disappeared with a shrieking scream. The bandits looked around in confusion but they were now feeling scared at everything that happened. As they were looking around, they heard a scream from one of them but when they turned to the one that screamed they didn't see him and it sounded like he was getting further away in the forest.

"AAAAAAHHH H GAH UGH DON'T BLEgh…"

The bandits all turned towards where the sound came from. They were startled when something bounced off the ground and rolled to the feet of one of them.

The bandit looked down and screamed at the cold eyes dead eyes of the head of the bandit that was taken away

Everyone was now on alert and scared at this.

However, as they tried to look around, one by one, they began to disappear with screams into the forest and a few were grabbed by something and taken up into the shadows of the trees. The bandits that were under the tree that swallowed their companion had to jump away from the tree as they tried to avoid being covered in red.

The leader of the bandits, who was a burly man that was balding and holding on to a duel-headed ax, watched as one by one his men were taken away into the forest. As he was looking around, he caught sight of a few silhouettes at the edge of the shadows. From what he could tell, there were six different creatures that stood on all fours. Some were small, about the size of a small dog while others were very large like the size of a horse or maybe a little bigger. They all looked like small wolves from what he could tell but the one in the center, who was about somewhere in between in its size was the one that caught his attention the most. It was the only one with multiple tails, six if he counted right. 'It's a demon from hell itself…' He was so mesmerized by the glowing blue eyes, that he didn't realize that the camp had become dead quiet. He was brought out of his trance when the eyes were suddenly in his face and he felt something impact on his back. He was pushed down onto his back and was looking at the blue slitted eyes that bore into his soul. He could feel the hot breath coming through the sharp teeth that were mere inches from him. He could feel the saliva drip down as he heard a deep growl. He was trembling in fear as he began to cry and beg for his life "please….spare me…. Don't take my soul…..I don't want to die…"

Naruto felt his anger rise as he heard pressed his paw on the man's neck **"****how many people asked you the same thing?! How many lives did you take just because of your greed!? How many people asked you to spare them from what you would do to them but you ignored them because of your damn DESIRES!"**

As Naruto was speaking a group of different colored foxes walked up to stand around the pinned man.

A black fox with yellow eyes, the size of a couch stood to Naruto's right

A normal sized, Prussian blue fox with red eyes stood to Naruto's left

A large white fox the size of a horse-drawn carriage sat across from Naruto.

A grey fox with black tipped ears, the size of a Naruto's human form, stood in between the blue fox and the white fox

And finally a dark shaded yellow fox, only slightly smaller than the white fox stood in between the white fox and the black fox.

In the trees and bushes around the camp, were other foxes of different sizes and colors, with some wearing different pieces of clothing such as vests, scarves or weapons.

The man could only look up fearfully at the fox on top of him as it was what he assumed to be the leader. Since it had multiple tails. "...please.

Naruto didn't want to hear any more from this man….no this monster and opened his maw, putting his teeth to the side of the man's head but not biting down yet.

The man was now crying hysterically as he was looking at the inside of the fox's mouth and he was terrified. "...don't eat me! Please don't eat m…..!"

Naruto quickly closed his mouth, using the sharpness of his teeth to slice through all of the man's face. The top of the man's head dropped the ground and rolled a bit. Naruto then quickly opened his mouth and spat out what had entered it. His anger kept him from tasting the blood and pieces left in there as he moved off the body that was twitching. After breathing heavily, he calmed his nerves down.

"Naruto-sama…" spoke a mature woman's voice laced with concern.

Naruto looked up at the large white fox and saw the look of worry in her eyes "I'm fine Kira-san." he said as he looked down

Kira shook her head in disbelief "No your not."

The black fox moved to be in front of Naruto and used its paw to lift his head "come on kid, don't lie to us."

Naruto knew he wasn't fine since he hated killing but what he found in one of the tents just made him angry. He sighed as he nodded his head then looked at the blue fox "can you get me some water?"

The blue fox nodded and used a water jutsu to spit out a small stream of water in the air.

Naruto used the water to wash out his mouth from what was in it as it was starting to make him sick. Once done he asked everyone to burn the bandits' bodies while he went to pick up something from one of the tents.

* * *

~Anko~

Anko was sitting on a stump as she watched the clone clean the little girl from the dirt and blood that covered her. She didn't know what it was that caused Naruto to grow angry but she knew it must have been big. She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard movement. Looking towards the direction of the bandit camp she saw that Naruto was walking to them with a couple of clones with him. Each of them were naked but what her attention was on, were what they were carrying. The two that were behind what she thought to be the original were carrying two covered adult bodies that had a bit of blood on the sheets. The more gruesome thing that really churned her stomach was the tiny bundle the original had. She didn't need to ask as she could figure out who they were.

It would seem that the little girl is all alone now and it's all thanks to a group of people that had no regard for life.

Naruto got close to the fire that Anko had made for their camp and gently laid the three down with the bundle in between the adults. After that, he went over to Anko, picked up his clothes that were next to her, grabbed a canteen of water as well as a rag and walked away. He was going to clean off the blood that was still on him and bury the anger and hatred he felt so that his dark side could handle it.

Anko could see the pain in the kid's eyes and hoped that he would get through this. She then looked towards the still unconscious little girl. 'She is going to have to come with us to Konoha since the village that was last raided was destroyed and the survivors have moved on.'

The Clone finally got the little girl clean and laid her down on a sleeping bag before covering her with a blanket. The clone then sat down to watch over the little girl and tried to think of what to do with her.

* * *

End of chapter

Now to clear some things up

what I wanted to show was that Naruto has dealt with missions like this before. It wasn't said but it's my idea of what some missions would be like. I wanted to show that Naruto has dealt with this before and to deal with it, he buries it in his mind so that Yami would take it in. Since Yami is the culmination of all of Naruto's negativity, he is also where Naruto would bury the stuff he doesn't want to deal with. Originally it was to be just the mother and little girl but it turned out to be the whole family and I HATED putting the baby there. However, there are people out there that are just as evil and this shows some of that.

Now during the camp scene, they were put in a genjutsu that Naruto's Fox summons are good at. Since I won't be giving Naruto the ability in using genjutsu the normal way, I have given him different ways of doing genjutsu, such as the tags in the previous chapter and now shown that his fox summons are good at this.

For Sasuke, I am doing what I did for Sakura in an early chapter. A wake up call.

I know for a fact that I had used some fandom cliches in the early part of the story that a lot of people hate for its overuse. You know: Naruto being chased, he gets hurt, civilian council being against Naruto throughout all of it, Danzo wanting him as a weapon, Sakura being a useless fangirl, Sasuke being the annoying prick but as I continued I wanted to put my own spin on it. In other words, slapping some sense into them. I know it has been done before but I'm hoping that it hasn't been done like this.

For the meeting with Naruto and Hiashi. I had this scene ready in my head but I didn't know when to put it. I may have shoehorned it in this but there it is. Inoichi will get his own meeting with Naruto but it will be in a later chapter. For the seal that Naruto used to become invisible to the byakugan. It was something that I planned on using from the get go. Naruto is NOT a Seal master yet. The only reason that he made this seal is because of his fight with Neji and he had Hinata help him create it by using her Byakugan so Naruto could test out how his seal is. Most of the things he makes are creations that I have not seen in other fics yet, like his glue bomb tag.

For the little girl, she will now be going to Konoha. I don't know if I will incorporate her into the story or have her just be a random filler character that will never show again. If you readers want her to stay then let me know and if you want her to stay, give me ideas on what to do with her. If you guys want her to stay then shoot out some names for her with your idea

**Also you guys will find out what NAruto was dealing with in a later chapter if you haven't figured it out yet**

Next chapter… you Naruto fans should know. But how will I go about it? Find out next time on Dragon….oops wrong series.

Please read, favorite, follow, and review


	46. The chase begins

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

**"****Demon/Summon speech"**

**'****Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts' **

**Jutsu name**

(author comment)

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Beta read by: not yet beta'd

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

**Reviews corner**

Aclux: thanks

boltzmannbrain: Yami isn't a major part at the moment, he was just needed for that part of the story

SkylerHollow: you're welcome

Celestial Indigo: yeah that's why I add them. Just not sure how far the restrictions will allow me to go

Bloody Rogue dragon deity king: I'm using that. Because it's brilliant! Thank you!

Otakumode: I think you just gave one of the best compliments that a fanfic writer could ask for when doing a retelling. Thank you

Eaglezaruma: yeah it will be something like that

Re Lovely Lover: I think I already answered you but they were already dead when he said "fun" so it was meant to show that they didn't really care about whether or not they are alive or not.

ZyiareHellsing: you're welcome

Absolom Hellgate: thanks for the name. As for the Sharingan thing. She is still just a little girl. So I don't know yet what I will make her. She could be a shinobi r just a normal civilian

Kristinalprime23: thank you very much. If you mean my writing I just tried to get better from when I started. For the story, I just let what my imagination come up with it. Also as I kept writing, I came up with guidelines that I felt a story should have. Glad you liked it so much :)

Dragon Man 180: for the Anti-byakugan seal. It was mainly made to be used against the Hyuga clan. So it won't really have much use other than Naruto pranking the clan again. As for the girl…..read on :)

* * *

Chapter 46: The chase begins

Naruto had finished wiping off the blood from his body and was just thinking about what his clones had discovered in a few of the tents that his clone had found when he sent it out to do recon on the bandit camp. The little girl wasn't the only….living….. being he found in the camp, but after he thought about it, he was having a tough time considering the other woman and children "living".

Their minds had been so broken that they could not speak, their eyes were extremely unfocused and they lacked any emotion that he could sense.

* * *

_~Flashback~_

_Naruto _**_**henged**_**_himself back into human form and created five clones to finish up. He and two clones went into the tent that held the bodies of the little girls family while the other three went towards one of the large tents that held more survivors_

_The clones went into a large tent to see if they could get them out, but when they entered their noses were hit by a pungent odor. They shook their head and tried to get past the smell and went to help out the captured people. Unfortunately, the only thing they did was spread their legs and make noises as if they were an animal begging and waiting for something. The clones looked around to see that there were a few that weren't bound and they went to them to ask if they were ok._

_When they got closer they paused as each of the ones captured looked at them with dead eyes before they turned around, got on their knees, stick their ass to them, and used their hands to spread their ass wider. The clones were stunned for a second and shook their heads and moved around them to be in front of them_

_Clone 1 knelt down to a brown-haired woman and brought her up to a kneeling position. "Hey it's ok, you don't have to do that anymore!"_

_The woman didn't seem to have heard him as all she did now that she was in a sitting position was tilt her head up and opened her mouth while sticking her tongue out._

_The other clones were getting similar reactions from the women they were handling_

_Clone 1 brought his hands to her shoulders and shook her a bit "NO! You're free from them! You don't have to do any of that crap anymore!"_

_She just fell to her back and spread her legs while spreading her lower lips_

_The clone was looking sadly at this as he looked to the others to see if they were having any better luck._

_Clone 2 was trying to push the one he was handling off him, since when he turned around to look at the other clones the one he was trying to help moved behind him and reached around his waist to grab hold of his member. He was startled by this and pushed her off, getting her to land on her back before she just did what the other woman did._

_Clone 3 was in the same boat as he stood up to help Clone 2, the blonde woman he was helping grabbed onto his leg and was running her hand up his leg towards his member. He jumped away from her and looked to the others. "We should help the ones that are tied up." he then looked at the blonde woman "I don't know what we can do about them….."_

_The three clones went to one of the ones that were tied up and grimaced as at them._

_They looked like they hadn't had anything to eat or drink in months. There were five people that were tied up, four grown women and a boy that looked only slightly older than Naruto. The clones went to get them free as gently as possible as to not hurt them._

_Clone 1 got the boy out and gently laid him on the ground "hey can you hear me?" he waited for a response but the boy just laid there staring off to the side. The Naruto clone looked to the others and spoke "one of you get Nami or Kishiko! Get them in here!"_

_Clone 2 nodded and gently laid the woman he was free and ran out of the tent. _

_A few minutes later he came back with a large Sea blue fox, that came up to Naurot's hip, she had jewelry around her front paws that had a small jewel that looked like a water drop. This was Kishiko "Naruto-sama, how may I be of….assistance?" she paused as she saw the state of the prisoners._

_Clone 3 called her over and spoke when she grew closer "I need you to use a lower level water jutsu to give them some water."_

_Kishiko looked at the little boy that was on the ground with a look of sadness. She looked around at the other prisoners and she felt her heart break at the state they were in. she already knew how this would end but she would obey her summoner's request. Her belly expanded a bit until she let out a gentle stream of water from her mouth. She aimed it so it would ark in the air and to the boy's mouth so he could drink some of it_

_The clones smiled thinking that the boy would drink it. However, their smiles dropped when they saw the boy just continue to lay there not doing anything, letting the water just pass by his lips. The clone brought his hand under the boy's head and gently lifted it up as he used his other hand to cup some water and brought it up. It was the same result, no reaction, and no attempt to drink it. "Come on, you need to drink some water or else you won't get better." he looked around and found a canteen that was tossed to the ground. Sniffing in it to see what it was, he scrunched up his nose and grimaced at the smell of alcohol and bad breath, making him think the bandits never cleaned it. Shaking his head he brought the canteen to the water and filled up the canteen and letting Kishiko stop her jutsu. He attempted to bring the water to the boy's lips and try again._

"_Naruto-sama ….. I don't think you can save them…."_

_The clones looked at her and grew confused._

_Clone 2 asked "what do you mean we can't save them? They are still alive, they just need to drink some water and eat something. We can help them get better…."_

_Kishiko shook her head "Naruto-sama, physically they are still alive….but the person they all used to be, are no longer among us." she looked back at the others in the tent and could only look on with sadness_

_Both the women and children were in a term "used" to the point that they no longer have a sense of self. Their minds have been broken to the point that they are now just puppets that don't even think about their actions. She could see several of them just moving automatically, ready to "play" again. She looked at the state of them all and could see that they haven't been washed in a very long time and if she looked closely she could see dried stains of what she assumed to be body fluids around their ass', pussy', and penis'. As she looked to the children, she felt anger at the monsters that did this to someone so young._

"_We have to help them!"_

_Kishiko looked back to the clones and saw that they all had tears in their eyes. This told her that they also came to the same conclusion that she did. She closed her eyes and pulsed her chakra in a pattern as a message to the other foxes that were cleaning up the camp. Once that was done she opened her eyes and looked to the clones "come Naruto-sama." she turned and walked to the entrance of the tent_

_Clone 2 and 3 walked after Kishiko while Clone 1 looked at the boy in his arms. He looked into the boy's eyes to see if he could see something, anything, that would tell him that he could save him. But the boy's eyes just remained glazed over. He gently placed him on the ground and began making his way out of the tent, making sure he kept his distance from the other prisoners so they didn't try to molest him. Once he made it out, he caught a small glimpse of the original and two clones at the edge of the trees, heading in the direction of Anko and the little girl. He then looked to the small group of foxes that had gathered in front of the tent, the rest of the summoned foxes looked to be close to finished with burning the bandit bodies "what are we going to do with them?" he asked as he gestured to the tent behind him_

_Kishiko looked to the other foxes gathered and they all had a silent conversation with each other. After a few seconds, Kishiko spoke "we are releasing them."_

_Clone 2 looked incredulous at them "well duh, but what he meant was how are we going to help them from what happened to them."_

_Kira stepped forward and looked down at the three clones "that is how we are helping them."_

_This confused the three clones and they were about to ask what they mean but were stopped when they heard _

"_Kid…..you don't need to be here for this."_

_The three clones felt a small bit of ill intent aimed at them but before they could do anything, they were slashed in the back and dispelled._

_When the smoke from the clones cleared, the black fox that stood with Naruto when he killed the leader was shown with his claws out._

_Kira (the large white fox) looked to the black fox "was it really necessary using your claws, Yamiyo?"_

_Yamiyo retracted his claws and smirked "call it a bit of payback for turning me into a poodle when he pranked us." his smirk dropped as he turned to the tent "kids got too pure a heart for this world. He went through hell in his short life, he even lost it, and yet he still doesn't want revenge. The worst he would ever do to people that torment him is play pranks but he won't seek revenge. The only time he ever does do something like this is when the person has gone too far and even then he still hurts for them…." he looked to his right at a severed bandit head that has yet to be burned "...even if they are monsters in human skin."_

_A red fox that was the same size as Yamiyo walked up to sit next to him and spoke in a feminine voice "he treasures life no matter who's it is and he wants to save as many as he can." she looked to the tent and finished with "he may want to save these people but he would despise himself f he did what __must __be done to save them."_

_Kira sat next to them and sighed "then start it Haruhi."_

_The red fox, now named Haruhi, nodded and sent out a small flame to the tent causing it to catch fire._

_The tent was quickly engulfed in flames and the fire soon grew in massive size_

_Every fox moved to sit or stand in front of the fire as if they were an audience for a show but every one of them had a look of sadness in their eyes that glowed from the orange light._

_The saddest part of it was that there were no screams of pain, no shouts for help, no pleads for salvation. The only thing that could be heard was the fire itself and this just confirmed….that the people inside were dead long before they even got there._

* * *

_The original and two clones paused when they got the memories of the three clones that were left behind to get the other survivors. Their heart was telling them to run back and do something but they knew they could do nothing now. They continued on with the dead family but their eyes were filled with tears at the failure they felt._

* * *

Naruto finished putting on his jacket and was now fully clothed. Once he finished he looked at his clenched fist and growled at the fact that he couldn't save them. In a fit of anger, he slashed at a tree with his hands. He continued slashing it with his claws for ten minutes as he thought about the prisoners. Finishing his onslaught, he looked to the tree and saw that he tore a large chunk out of it. He pulled his fist back and punched above the missing chunk, which caused the tree to fall away from him. He was breathing heavily for a minute until he calmed down and buried his anger. Once calm, he made his way back to the camp, trying to prepare himself for one last heartache.

* * *

Anko was sitting next to the sleeping girl as the clone had dispelled not that long ago. She knew that this sort of thing happened often in the shinobi world but she never liked it. She had lost her parents at an early age as well and knew that when the girl wakes up, she is going to be hurting a lot. She looked up to see that Naruto now fully dressed and looking calmer than he did before. She whispered "feeling better?"

Naruto sat cross-legged in front of Anko and nodded "...yeah…." he looked at the girl and frowned "what are we going to do with her?"

"I was thinking that we can take her with us back to the village. She just lost her family and I don't think she would know any other family members due to her age."

Naruto stared at the girl and finally got a good look at her.

She was wearing a simple burgundy kimono made that was ripped in several places, specifically around her chest and lower half. Her hair was a shiny violet color style in a bob cut with a very small strand in the center of her head going upwards and one strand falling down the center of her face. The color was like a lighter color of Anko's hair and seemed the have a shine like Hinata's.

He sighed and he nodded his head. "Ok ….. But who will take care of her? I don't trust the orphanage based on my time there. If they find out that we saved her, they will make her life as miserable as they can."

Anko thought about this and had to agree. The village hated them both and they give anyone associated with them grief about it. Before she could say anything they both heard a voice

"Mommy?"

Both Naruto and Anko looked to the little girl to see that she stirring awake.

The little girl was enjoying the comfort of what she was sleeping on, but due to her still having her eyes closed, she didn't know that she was no longer at the bandit camp. "I had a really bad dream. The bad men came and did something mean to you and daddy and Lil Kay then a big orange woofy came and took the bad men away then a pretty lady played with me.

Naruto and Anko were surprised the hear this come from the little girl.

Naruto was surprised because he wasn't in his fox form, nor did he summon any of his foxes until after she had been taken away from the bandit camp.

Anko was surprised because she could only assume that the pretty lady the little girl was referring to was her which was weird since the only thing she did with the girl was pet her head as she slept.

Both got out of their surprise as they remembered what they had to do next.

The little girl sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes, hoping to see her mother and father with her. Unfortunately, all she saw were two people she didn't recognize. In fear, she began to crawl away while also looking around to find her mommy and daddy. "Mommy?! Daddy?! Where you?!"

Anko got up and spoke "wait, we aren't going to hurt you!"

She didn't listen to them as in her mind she thought that these were with the bad men. She looked back to see the two were getting closer and in a panic, she got to her feet and ran into the forest

Anko grew more concerned "Wait!" before she could run after the girl, Naruto stopped her by placing a hand on her shoulder. Anko looked angry at Naruto and was about to say something but was beaten to it

"She's scared Anko-nee-chan."

Anko paused when she heard this

"She most likely thinks that we are with the bandits since the last time she was awake was with them."

Anko thought about this for a second and had to agree with this "and from what she said…..the last thing she saw might have been the death of her family. It might have been too big a shock and she fell unconscious. That would explain the blood that was on her. But they left her alive….."

Naruto nodded his head "when my clone first went in, he caught the scent of sex coming from the mother. Either they had their way with her, then killed her or in reverse order."

"And if they left her alive….they could have been thinking of selling her off or…" Anko balled her hand into a fist so hard that her nails were cutting into her palm.

Naruto was no better as he didn't want to think about what they would have done to her. Feeling Anko's anger wasn't helping but he took a deep breath and spoke once more "we need to show her that we aren't going to hurt her."

"How?"

Naruto began to walk past Anko, in the direction of where the little girl went "she said 'big furry woof chased the bad men away'. So I'm going to show her the big furry woof."

Anko was surprised by what Naruto was about to do "Naruto-kun….you sure about this?"

Naruto just began taking off his clothes "she needs something to calm her down. So I can give up my secret if it helps her." he was naked once more and undid his ****henge**** to be in his fox form. "Follow me but stay in the shadows."

Anko nodded as she leapt up into the tree branches while Naruto stayed on ground level.

* * *

She didn't know where she was. She was running as fast as she could to get away while shouting out for her parents "Mommy! Daddy!" she knew that when she found them, they would be with her little sister. They would be together and then they can go home, away from the bad men. She soon found herself out of breath and she tripped on a tree root. After she tumbled a bit she looked up and grew more afraid as it was dark and she could hear strange noises coming from all around her. She began to panic now and she crawled to a tree and curled herself up in a ball and began to cry. "Mommy….daddy…..help me…" she heard a twig snap and she closed her eyes hoping that it wasn't a monster or one of the bad men. She trembled not only from fear but from the cold as well. After a few seconds, she heard something getting closer to her and clenched her eyes close harder. However, she soon felt the cold air become warmer and she heard a voice.

"Are you alright?

The voice was somewhat raspy but it didn't sound mean. In fact, it made her feel safe 'don't be a monster….' she slowly peaked out of her eye while repeating this thought. When she caught a glimpse of what it was, she was surprised at what she saw. She fully opened her eyes to see a fox several times bigger than she was sitting a bit away from her, but what really caught her attention was that this was the furry she dreamed about. "Woofy….."

Naruto chuckled internally at what she called him and got up and moved only a little bit closer to her before sitting again "hello there. It's nice to meet you."

She slowly brought up her hand and waved. It was what her mother taught her she should do when she meets new people. "You the woofy that chase bad men away

Naruto laid down on the ground to make himself seem like less of a threat. He gave a closed mouth smile, he didn't need to scare her with his teeth "yes I am. I came here looking for you to make sure you are safe. What's your name?" he would have asked what she was doing out here but he knew that she was in a frantic search for her parents and that would just bring about more problems. Right now he needed her to calm down and trust him.

She quietly spoke "my name is Asa…..." she would have said something else but *achoo*.

Naruto could see that the girl was shivering from the cold. He brought up one of his tails and elongated it to come closer to her.

She had her eyes closed from the sneeze and was wiping her nose with her kimono sleeve. She suddenly felt something warm tap her on the forehead. When she looked up, she saw it was a big fluffy thing. She smiled at it before she grabbed it and hugged it as hard as she could. Not only was it nice and fluffy, but it was also warm. She giggled as the fury was also tickling her

Nauto used this chance to get closer to her and laid down next to her. "Are you feeling better."

Asa Nodded while still hugging the bog fuzzy tail. She looked to see that it was attached to the bog woofy and that he was closer. She didn't feel scared of him and leaned into his side "I wonder if mommy and daddy will let me keep you woofy."

Naruto's ears drooped at this. He could tell the girl was no longer afraid but she still didn't know what really happened to her parents. He took a breath as he needed some help for this part. "Hey, Asa-chan?"

Asa looked up at him

"There is someone else that wants to make sure you alright. Is that ok?"

Asa was slightly afraid at this and hugged the tail harder

"I promise that she isn't going to hurt you or do mean things to you."

Asa was still afraid but nodded her head "if woofy stays."

Naruto nodded as he looked up into the trees "Anko-nee-chan…."

Anko dropped from the trees and landed a bit away as to not fully frighten the girl. She slowly made her way to the two and once she was close enough she knelt down to be closer to eye level with Asa "Hi I'm Anko."

Asa used one hand to wave while the other held onto the tail. She got a closer look at the woman and although she didn't fully recognize the woman from her dreams, she recognized the purple hair. "You're the pretty lady that played with me."

Anko chuckled at this and decided to play along with this. "Yes, I am."

Asa smiled at her before asking "you know woofy?"

Anko smiled at the little girl for saying this. She wanted t make fun of Narut but knew now wasn't the time "yes I know woofy" she said not in a teasing but a serious one. She took a deep breath as she decided to go into her interrogation mode. "Asa-chan do you remember what happened?"

It took a minute before Asa figured out what she meant and another minute for her to begin to take "bad men came. Yelling and hurting. They come to my home and hurt mommy and daddy….." she began to become afraid once more as she remembered the men coming into her home and trashing it.

Naruto used another tail to gently pat her on the head.

Asa calmed down from the touch and hugged the tail she had more. "They pull my hair and take me mommy, daddy, and baby Kay."

Naruto looked at her and wrapped her with a third tail while still using the second to gently pat her head and the first being hugged by her

Anko hated having to do this but she knew she had to 'like a band-aid, like a band-aid'. "Do you remember what they did to them when you were in the tent?"

Asa felt comfortable wrapped in woofy's tails "they hit daddy and mommy and Lil Kay many times. Then they fall sleep. I fell asleep when a bad man hit me on head."

Naruto used the tail that was patting her to feel around her head and he found a bump there. It was amazing she wasn't wincing in pain when he patted her but it might be due to the fact that he wasn't really pressing on her head but rather just gently running his fur on it. He did notice that she did wince when he used the tail to look for it "sorry."

Anko chose this time to say what needed to be said ''like a band-aid! like a band-aid!…...like a band-aid the size of my arm covered in wax meant to remove the hair off a man's balls.' "Asa…."

Asa looked to Anko

The bright green eyes of the little girl made her hate herself for what she had to tell her "...your mommy, daddy, and little sister….arent coming."

Asa was confused by what was said "what you mean?"

"They…... had to go away."

"Where? Woofy and I can find them."

Anko shook her head "they went somewhere you can't go and they won't be coming back."

Naruto could feel the panic and fear rising from the little girl. He used his tails to hug her tighter

"Why? Why did they go? Why not take me with them? Don't they love me!?"

"Asa"

Asa looked at Naruto as he continued

"They loved you very much but the bad men took them somewhere that you can't go."

Asa turned around and began to tug at the fur "why Woofy!? Why not take me?! Why woofy?!"

Naruto could see the slight look of betrayal in the watery eyes. "The bad men took them and we can't take you because your mother wouldn't want you to go to where they went. But know that they loved you and if they could, they would have stayed with you forever."

Asa had tears flowing down her cheek as she heard this.

Naruto saw Anko come closer and moved his three tails for her

Anko knelt down to the little girl and hugged her from behind

Asa immediately turned around and gripped onto Anko's mesh shirt and jacket and began to cry.

Anko brought the little girl onto her lap and hugged her tightly as her own tears fell from her eyes. She just let the girl cry onto her breast, not caring that they were getting wet

Naruto moved closer to the two and wrapped a couple of his tails around them and curled his body around them as well. His own tears flowed down his muzzle at the pain this whole mission had done.

For a while, nothing else could be heard other than the painful cries of a little girl that had just lost her family. After all the tears had fallen the three of them stayed there and slept.

Anko and Naruto didn't care if they weren't at their camp. All they cared about was the little girl Asa.

* * *

~ a few days later, Konoha~

It was the last day. That night he would meet with the Oto-nin and go with them. Sasuke was spending the day just walking around the village with no real destination. As he walked he noticed that the civilians were all bowing to him. He knew that they did this but now that he was really looking he realized how many were doing it. 'Have they always done this?' he continued to walk around the village and as he did he started to reminisce on the missions that he had with team 7.

During one of the D-rank missions where they had to paint a fence. Naruto was painting weird things on each of the planks out of boredom and Sakura would occasionally reprimand him for wasting time. Sakura would then paint over his drawing to get the job done but Naruto would just draw on the next pan which caused Sakura to just move to paint over that one while shouting at him.

Sasuke would just work on finishing his part of the fence while ignoring the other two.

Kakashi would be reading his little book

Moving past the house that they did the painting mission, he soon found himself at an alleyway, where they caught Tora on their first run of this mission. Naruto was actually having a staredown with the cat as if to see who was the dominant animal. In the end, the cat chose to run away, which caused the rest of them to groan at the fact that they had to chase the cat again. He shook his head at that memory as he got a few scratches from that cat.

He continued to walk around the village and he noticed that there were some girls giving him looks of adoration. When he thought about it, he recognized them from the academy. He knew that he had a fan club but he never really paid any attention to it. He just considered them to be a nuisance and let them do what they want. 'Why do they like me so much?' he had never thought about this before but now that he actually took the time to think about it, he himself could not see what it was about him that they liked.

He spent the entire day going around the village like this. He thought about what it was that held him to this village and he has come to the only answer. There was nothing here that he held dear.

* * *

~that night, Sasuke's apartment~

He had packed everything that he felt he needed for this and looked around the apartment that he had called home for some years. Moving to his nightstand he looked at a group photo of Team 7. NAruto on the left, Sakura in the center, himself on the right and Kakashi behind them with his hands on both Naruto's and his head

Sakura was smiling happily with a double peace sign

Naruto was smirking and had a look of confidence as he gave a thumbs up to the camera.

Kakashi giving his signature eye smile

Then there was himself. He was scowling at the other two.

Sasuke frowned at this as he remembered that at that time he thought them to be nothing but a hindrance. He sighed as it no longer mattered. Below the picture was his hitai-ate and apartment key. He reached out to pick up the items and stored them away before he left the apartment.

He walked down a stone pathway that led to the main gate of Konoha. He wasn't surprised to see that there were no people around as it was late at night, which was perfect for him as he didn't want anyone questioning why he was out at night and packed to leave.

"So this is your choice."

Sasuke stopped and felt the presence behind him. He did not turn around to see who it was since he recognized the voice "you here to stop me?"

"And what if I am?"

Sasuke smirked at this response "I doubt you would actually stop me really."

"You seem so sure of that"

Sasuke could feel the coldness in the response but he did not react to it. "This is my choice and I won't be stopped so stay out of my way."

"...the path is yours to walk but know that if you become a threat I will kill you."

Sasuke chuckled at this. He pulled his hand out of his pocket and stretched it out in front of him with his palm upwards. Gently falling into his hand was a single snowflake "take care of Sakura-san." he then put his hand back in his pocket and began his walk to the main gate.

"...always."

* * *

~Forest outside Konoha walls~

Sasuke landed in front of the four Oto-nin at the designated meeting spot

A red-haired woman spoke first "bout fucking time you got here."

A slightly hefty orange-haired man reprimanded the redhead "Tayuya, watch your language."

"Fuck off fat ass!"

A man that had six arms pushed off the tree he was leaning on and looked to the Uchiha "you ready?" he said as he smirked at the boy

Sasuke took one last glance behind him in the direction of the village "hmph let's just do this."

* * *

~next day late afternoon~

Naruto, Anko, and Asa were walking down the pathway that led to the village

Asa was right now clinging to Anko's jacket while glaring childishly at Naruto while also puffing out her cheeks "I like woofy better"

Naruto slumped as he sweatdropped "I can't be woofy when I am in the village."

"Hmph I want woofy!"

Naruto dropped his head as he now had anime tears "she doesn't like me anymore."

Kurama was laughing at how the little girl liked him better as a fox than anything else.** "****Hahahaha looks like 'woofy' has a fan hahahaha."**

Anko was smiling at how the little girl was doing better than a few days ago. They didn't show her the bodies of her family as Naruto sealed them away. She liked what Naruto was doing for her. He was planning on burying them in the village cemetery for her to visit when she is ready for it. After they began they making their journey back to the village Asa would not let go o Naruto's tail and he even lifted her up in the air, much to her delight. She even piggybacked on him for most of the trip. But when he **henged** back into his human form, she began to sulk. She and Anko even got to know each other during the trip and Asa began to trust her more. Now she clung to her jacket since she could no longer cling to Naruto's tail also during the trip, while Asa slept, it was decided between the two shinobi that Asa would stay with Anko. neither of them trusted the orphanage and they were not sure how she would react to new people thanks to her traumatic experience. They were lucky that she trusted Naruto's fox form and that helped her trust Anko. Anko knew that she would need to move out of her crappy apartment and get a bigger place but she had enough money saved from years of doing high ranking missions and working at the interrogation department. Anko felt Asa grip onto her jacket more and looked down to see that she was slightly scared as they got closer to the gates.

Naruto felt the fear and paused his walking

Anko stopped walking when Asa stopped the same time Naruto did. She knelt down and placed her hand on Asa's head "you ok squirt?"

Asa puffed out her cheeks as she didn't like being called that for some reason. She pulled more of the jacket to her and hugged it while trying not to be scared

Anko smiled as she ruffled Asa's hair a bit. Causing the girl to whine a bit but her intention was working. Getting Asa to calm down a bit "don't be afraid. Me and 'Woofy' here will make sure that no one hurts you ever again."

Asa looked up to Naruto who nodded at her with a bright smile. Asa looked to Anko again but still had a bit of fear. She reached out and took Anko's hand for support

Anko went a little wide-eyed at this before smiling and squeezed Asa's hand reassuringly "ready?"

Asa gave a weak nod as she gave a confirming and quiet "mmhmm"

Anko smiled as she chose to pick the girl up and put her on her shoulder, eliciting a happy squeak from Asa. "then let's go." Anko kept walking with her arm up so Asa can continue to hold her hand

Naruto followed and smiled at how the little girl was getting along with Anko.

* * *

~an hour later~

Naruto was walking the streets of Konoha with his hands behind his head as he was happy that Tsunade allowed Asa to stay with Anko after an argument occurred between the three shinobi. In the end, Tsunade relented but under several conditions. Naruto was dismissed before they were brought up but Anko told him that she would tell him later and he promised Asa that he would come by to see her later.

Before he could even decide on whether he wanted to get Ichuraku or not, someone called his name.

"Naruto!/Naruto-kun!"

He knew those voices and he just now caught their scent. Turning around he saw Hinata and Ino running towards him. He would have been happy to see them but he could feel the anxiousness, worry, and panic coming from both of them. Once they were close enough he asked "what's wrong?"

Ino was trying to catch her breath since she was running around to find Hinata as she needed to know as well. Once she could she spoke in a worried rushed tone "Sasuke left the village!"

This caught Naruto by surprise as he was not expecting this sort of news. 'Sasuke abandoned the village…..?' "why?"

Hinata was the one to answer "we don't know. But there was a retrieval team sent out to get him back."

Naruto got a bad feeling from this. "So shouldn't we just let the team go bring him back?"

Ino and Hinata looked at each other before looking back at Naruto and Ino spoke "the team was Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji, and Neji

He now knew why they were worried. Each had two people they cared about on the team. Ino had her teammates and friends going, while Hinata had one teammate and a family member. He wasn't sure why but his gut was telling him that something bad was going to happen if he didn't do anything. He wanted to go get some rest but he knew that the two wouldn't feel any better until the team came back. Making a quick decision he hugged them both as he said "don't worry you two. I'll make sure to bring them back." He let them go and turned around ready to begin running but as he started he was pulled back by the neck of his jacket, causing his feet to fly into the air and fall onto the ground. Shaking his head to clear the stars h looked up to see an angry Ino

"Did you think we would just sit here and wait for you?"

Naruto was about to answer but was interrupted by Hinata

"We are going with you Naruto-kun."

Naruto would have said they were to stay here and wait for him to come back with the team but the glare Ino was giving him was just saying "say no and I will hurt you.". He gulped a bit before he nodded his head and got up. The three then jumped off towards the main gate.

* * *

~outside Konoha walls~

Naruto had taken Hinata and Ino through one of his secret exits. He had made it long ago when he wanted to explore the forest outside the walls or get away from the villagers. "Ok do you know when they left?"

Hinata thought about it for a second before answering "Neji-nii-san was called away early in the morning so most likely around that time."

Naruto looked to Ino to see if she knew.

Ino just shrugged "it makes sense. I heard that the gate guards were found unconscious last night. They said that Sasuke was the one that did it to them. Since I heard this, I haven't seen Shikamaru or Choji at all. I then heard that they were sent to bring Sasuke back."

Naruto figured that Hinata's reasoning explained when they left and Ino confirmed it while also telling him how she found out. "We are already behind and we need to move fast to get to them. I have a bad feeling about this mission so we need to go as fast as possible."

Hinata tilted her head in confusion "well we should go ten."

Naruto shook his head as he gestured for them to follow him into the dense trees to the forest. Once they were there, he pulled out a scroll and tossed it to Ino. "hold onto that for me."

Ino looked at the scroll in confusion "why do you need me…."

"HOLD IT!"

The three jumped in fright at the voice and turned around to see who it was

Jumping down in front of them, with an angry look on her face was Karin. "If you are going after the retrieval team then I'm coming!"

Naruto was about to ask how she knew about this but was interrupted by her

Karin adjusted her glasses as she answered "if you are going to ask how I know about the retrieval mission, then the answer is: the people in this village can't keep a secret to save their lives! If it's about how I know you were going to do that: why else would you be out here!"

The three looked at each other and accepted this with Ino and Naruto shrugging their shoulders.

Naruto then gained a question "Karin-chan, why do you want to come?"

Karin grew a tick mark on her forehead as she began to rant "that idiot went after the team even though he was supposed to be rest. But NO I go to check up on him but found a note saying 'gone to help my friend FAN THEIR FLAMES OF YOUTH!' HE'S A MORONN FOR GOING AFTER THEM!" Karin finished her rant and was now breathing heavily to calm herself down.

Naruto sighed as this was something that Lee would do but he knew they were wasting time. But before they go, he needed to make sure of something first. Getting serious he looked at Karin dead in the eyes "Karin I am about to do something that must be kept secret from everyone in the village. I want your word that you will not tell anyone about it."

Karin looked at Naruto in a bit of apprehension "why would I …"

"Karin!"

Karin paused for a second before she got up to him and gave a friendly punch to his chest and kept her fist there "we are family Naruto-kun. If you want me to keep whatever it is you are about to do secret than it won't leave my lips."

Naruto smiled as he gave a thankful nod to her "thanks Karin-chan." he took a few steps back and undid his ****henge**** causing his clothes to rip into pieces.

Hinata and Ino were surprised that Naruto would do this and grew even more confused about why he would do this

Karin, on the other hand, was staring wide-eyed at the large six tailed fox that Naruto had just become. She could sense his chakra even more now and it was now like standing close to a bonfire. Her mouth was now on the ground as she was too stunned to say anything.

Naruto laid down and looked to them "get on."

Ino and Hinata now understood why he undid his **henge **and they both timidly moved to get on his back

Naruto looked to Karin and couldn't help but chuckle at the gobsmacked look on her face "you coming Karin-chan?"

"Uh…...ah…..I…..wha…"

Naruto used one of his tails to wrap around her waist and move her behind Ino, who was behind Hinata.

Karin squeaked at this and gripped Ino hard as she did not expect to be picked up like that.

Naruto wrapped a tail around Karin since he was big enough to carry two and she was barely able to fit on his back. "Hold on tight!"

Hinatagently grabbed a handful of fur on his neck, Ino wrapped her hands around Hinata's waist and Karin wrapped her arms around Ino's neck while also praying that the tail would make sure that she would fall off.

Naruto then bolted off into the direction he smelled his friend going. The speed and sudden movement caused all three girls on his back to scream out in panic. The three girls gripped tight to what they were holding since they had never gone this fast before.

Naruto focused on moving as fast as he could to help out his friends. 'You guys better be ok when we catch up."

* * *

End of chapter

* * *

Alternate scene

Sasuke was walking down a stone pathway that led to the main gates. He was glad that there were no one out at this time of night. Unfortunately, he wasn't as alone as he wanted. In front of him was one Ino Yamanaka.

"What are you doing Sasuke-san?"

Suske did not want to deal with anyone right now since he was on the clock. "get out of my way Ino."

Ino crossed her arms at this and looked closely at the boy. Seeing the pack on his back and the fact that this pathway led to the main gate of the village. "You're leaving." she said this as a statement, not a question

"And what if I am?"

Ino glared at Sasuke as she mentally prepared herself for a fight "what for? Going off to kill your brother?"

Sasuke was stunned at this as he was not expecting Ino of all people to say that.

Ino uncrossed her eyes and put her hands on her hips "surprised? It's not that hard to figure out. Ever since the massacre, you became cold to everyone around you. Train nonstop with an angry look on your face and when the day the event happened you would be far more aggressive to everyone around you."

Sasuke moved to walk around Ino, knowing that if she picked a fight he could take her down "then you should be glad that I'm leaving. You won't have to deal with me from now on."

Ino just let him pass her as she brought her hand up to her weapons pouch. "I should let you leave. You were always an ass to Naruto-kun and it makes me angry thinking I used to chase after you. If you leave, I won't have to think about that ever again."

Sasuke was stunned by this statement as the way it was said made it sound like Ino was dating Naruto."

Ino pulled out a kunai from her pouch and turned around and charged at Sasuke "but this makes you a traitor and you can't be allowed to leave!"

Sasuke activated his Sharingan and slipped out his own kunai to parry Ino's. Moving quickly he used his free hand to grab her wrist and twist it, causing Ino to wince in pain and drop her kunai

Ino twisted her body to untwist her arm and leapt in the air, aiming a kick at Sasuke's face.

Sasuke saw this coming, let go of her wrist, and ducked under her kick. While coming back up he uppercutted her into the air before jumping up ahead of her before he did an ax kick to her stomach sending her back to the ground hard.

Ino coughed up some blood from the attack but she didn't have time to think about the pain as his fist collided with her face and then everything went black

Sasuke looked down at Ino before turning around and continued his trek to the main gate. After a bit of walking he shook his head at what he just learned "never thought the dobe would end up with Ino

* * *

Now it's really the end of the chapter

The reason I didn't use the alternate scene was because it would have taken Ino out of the arc and I kinda wanted her to join Naruto for this.

I had another version with Asa meeting Sasuke as he left but it would have ruined several things that need to be done and it would have made no sense for her to be alone at night to meet him

The first part of this chapter was originally part of the previous chapter and was why I really didn't like it but it was moved to this chapter.

Ok for Asa, I spent an hour pacing back and forth thinking about what she would look like and I am still unsure about it. Since this chapter was just released I can still change her appearance. So if you guys are ok with it then let me know. I looked through different anime girls to see if any of them could help me come up with what she could look like. In the end, her hairstyle and coloration were slightly based off of Aoi from Ai Yori Aoshi. This is why if you readers want me to change her appearance than TELL ME please since that anime is WAAAAY different from Naruto naruto and this fic

For her speech, I purposefully made it somewhat poor since she is only four years old.

Her name was the only one recommended to me from the reviews and her fate was also given to me so those are set but not her appearance if I get any suggestions on that

For the upcoming fights, I can keep them canon, or I can throw my own spin on it. It's up to you. If I add my spin to it than it will be longer till we get to the long-awaited Sasuke vs Naruto fight. Choose wisely :)

Please Read, Favorite, Follow, and Review


	47. One down, three to go

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

**"****Demon/Summon speech"**

**'****Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts' **

**Jutsu name**

(author comment)

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Beta read by: not yet beta'd

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

**Reviews corner**

Guest 1: at this point, it is a possibility. I know that Lee has a kid in Boruto (that I never really watched) but I never found anything about his mother. Karin can possibly be paired up with him but as I am making it, she could either get together with him or she is merely acting as a physician that has the most impossible patient.

Re Lovely Lover: the woman and children weren't there for a few months. They were from several different raids the bandits did. The "recent ones" were with the ones that were starved and dehydrated to the point that they would not be able to move at all. I found out that some people that have been driven to that point have a very small chance of getting back to normal. I had the thought about the Yamanaka but in my head, a mind that is broken would not be able to have anything coherent to use to fix them. The chapter was specifically meant to be depressing. It shows some things about Naruto but also shows that not everyone can be saved and putting someone out of their mercy is the best thing you could do for them. (and I hate that way of things)

Innovaquantum: he has a reason but it will be revealed in a later chapter

Otakumode: yeah someone suggested it and I thought it was cute for Anko. And yeah, of course, she would prefer woofy. To her, he is basically a big plushy that moves. Or an imaginary friend made real. As for Lee… :)

Kaeli-Madym: hope you like this twist

Autobot-Wolfsketch: yeah I hate myself for putting Asa through that but she now has Anko taking care of her.

ZyiareHellsing: that was what I originally thought about making her but I remembered that memorable characters in anime have an alternate color of hair or a feature that would make them stand out. That's why I gave her colored hair (staple for a character that has bigger meaning)

Ignaciodiaznicolas: planned already

Narudevilfan: here you go

Guest 2: glad you love the story and have kept reading since you found it. I kinda have a set plan for NAruto's future skills but that water shuriken one sounds interesting so I'll add it to his skill list. As for Kekkei genkai….you are just going to have to wait and see if I add that to it. Also for the genjutsu, that's why I have his fox summons good at genjutsu since I remember reading somewhere that in folklore, foxes were known for creating illusions. So I made it so that they were excellent at casting them

Kaisha Agariba Hiniku: I think it felt small because the majority of it was focused more on Asa and the relationship growing between her, Naruto and Anko, and then suddenly the Sasuke retrieval thing. I could add an Oc named Hisui but I will need to find a purpose for this person. But I have an idea I could use so we will see

Voltblaze0522: she could gain aspects from the two since she is extremely young. Also, I plan to for that fight. Youll just need to see how it will go when we get there

Dggdhirf: glad this story was entertaining enough for you to binge read it. Asa is too young to have any real pull on what happens but she will be a recurring character. And I agree with the fight and yeah in this story ….yep. But you must wait to see it. I wasn't a writer until I started this story but now here I am. Oh and here's the next chapter.

* * *

Chapter 47: One down, three to go

Anko opened the door to her apartment, letting Asa walk in. "I know that this isn't much but I'll be getting a better place soon. But, for now, this will be home."

Asa entered the apartment and looked around in interest. It wasn't extravagant since it was a simple two-room apartment. One thing that caught her eye was a dartboard that had some sticks jutting out of the center. she recognized them as the same sticks of the snack she ate earlier with Anko. Dango if she remembered it right. After she looked around the main room, her eyes landed on the tv. She was excited to see it since she had never used one before. She had seen them but her family had never been able to get one. She jumped on to the couch and grabbed the remote, trying to figure out how it worked since she was not taught how to read yet, so she didn't know what the words on them said.

Anko smiled at Asa as she took off her jacket and placed it on the backrest of the couch. She moved to sit next to the girl, gently took the remote from her, turned on the TV and put on some cartoons that she knew that Asa would like. She didn't mind watching them since she thought some of them were funny and they were a happy side of life. It was only after thirty minutes that she noticed that Asa was leaning on her side, asleep. however, it wasn't the weight that alerted her that Asa was sleeping... it was the whimpering. Anko looked down to see that Asa was crying and trembling as she clutched onto Anko's shirt. Anko quickly, but gently, picked the girl up and moved so that she would be laying on her couch with Asa on top of her. Asa curled up on her and used her breasts as pillows. Anko gently ran her hand through the girl's hair as she cried.

"...mommy…..daddy….Kay day"

Anko felt her heart hurt when she heard this. Asa had told them about her short time with her family and that she was really happy when she got a little sister who she called "Kay" or "Kay day". Anko figured that the baby girl's name was "Kaede" which was confirmed by Asa. But since she couldn't say the name right she just said "Kay". "shhh…... it's ok Asa-chan. I'm here. please don't cry." Anko felt her eyes water as well since no little girl should go through what Asa went through.

Asa had done this the nights that they had camped out on their way to the village. Naruto was unable to calm the girl down during this time. After they had tried to calm her down without waking her up, they finally succeeded when Anko had picked up the girl who gripped tight on her and pressed her head onto her breasts. Anko could only figure that Asa had slept with her mother like this and she would not deny helping out like this.

Anko smiled as Asa began to calm down and snuggle into her breasts. She picked up the remote and turned off the T.v, leaving them in only the light of the moon that poured in through the window. Anko closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around Asa, drifting off to join the little girl in sleep.

* * *

~Meanwhile~

Naruto, Ino, Hinata, and Karin were moving quickly through the forest, with them only stopping every now and then, for Naruto to reaffirm that they were going the right way based on their scent.

The three girls had gotten used to the speed that Naruto was going at however, Karin's and Ino's hair would become a complete mess when they stopped the first few times. at these times Ino would glare at Hinata's hair and feel envy for another feature of that Hinata had that she didn't.

Karin, on the other hand, was really glad that she did not lose her glasses from the ride, but she was still irritated with Naruto "did you have to grab me like that and run at this ridiculous speed!" She shouted while shaking her fist in the air only to "EEEK" when she felt herself begin to slip off his back and she immediately wrapped her arms around Ino's neck again. She may have one of his tails around her like a seatbelt but she did not want to risk falling off.

Naruto continued running as he spoke "sorry Karin-chan but we don't have any time to waste. The others have a full day ahead of us and if they were chasing someone, then they were most likely going full speed. I don't know why but I have a bad feeling about this mission and I don't want to waste any time."

Karin carefully adjusted her glasses "so…...have you always been a …...large multi-tailed fox? Are you actually the Kyuubi in disguise?"

Ino looked behind her to speak up for Naruto "no, he isn't the Kyuubi. He is still Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto picked up from here to clarify some things to Karin "but the Kyuubi did save my life. When I was young he used almost all of his chakra to bring me back from death. When he did that, my body became this way and I have lived like this ever since."

Karin felt like there was more to what she was being told but due to the fact that right now wasn't really the time to ask questions, she chose to hold off on them for now. She had figured that he was the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi, which would explain the massive amount of chakra she felt coming from him before. But now that he is in this form, the massive lake amount of chakra that she felt before, felt like it had become an ocean. She was brought out of her thoughts when Naruto began moving faster than before "Wah! Don't just speed up without warning."

Naruto bared his teeth as he pushed himself faster "sorry….but that bad feeling I had before is worse now and I don't want to risk anything! So HANG ON!"

Each of the girls tightened their grip on what they were holding on to and leaned forward for good measure.

Hinata leaned forward to hold onto Naruto's fur. as she did this she found that underneath his fur he had a string wrapping around his neck.

Naruto kept focused on what was in front of him as he thought 'whatever is happening, I hope you guys hang on till we get there.'

* * *

~Following morning~

Choji was grimacing in pain not only from his fight with Jirobo but from the side effects of eating both the Akimichi green pill and the yellow pill. 'I never thought….that the effects would be this painful. Urgh! It hurts…...to breathe. If I eat the red chili pill…..I'll…..die."

Jirobo was in his second curse mark state, which made him look as if he was an oni (I don't think I need to explain what he looks like but if you need a visual, please google: Jirobo second state). "I gotta admit that you were fun to play with. You were able to get out of my trap and put up a somewhat decent fight, but I'm still hungry…" he got to Choji and gripped him by the throat "so I'm going to finish my meal!"

Choji could feel his chakra leave him through Jirobo's hand and he was trying to figure a way out of this. 'I have to use it…...even if it kills me….I can't let Shikamaru down!' Choji reached into his pocket and pulled out a small container with three slots, two of which were empty, and the last held a red food pill. He tried to bring it up so he could eat it but with his chakra being drained, along with the side effects of the other two pills, he could barely move his arm. 'damn it! I can't move….'

Jirobo was smiling as he drained the kid's chakra "too bad! But it looks like you were just a snack."

Choji could feel himself getting weaker and weaker and couldn't help but think about his friends. 'Sorry guys...looks like I won't win this one. Shikamaru….looks like I failed you. Sorry, I can't pay you back for that free meal Ino. Naruto…...heh thanks for the free food….."

Jirobo could tell that the kid was almost out of chakra and he smirked as he was close to killing him

"HAH!"

Jirobo was suddenly sent flying from a hard punch that came out of nowhere. He flew through several trees until he impacted on a boulder that cracked from the force. The punch broke his jaw sent a few of his teeth flying, and caused several ribs to cracked from the impact. He coughed up blood as he fell to the ground "w….what…..hit me…?"

Choji was gasping for air as he fell to the ground. He moved his head to see who had saved him and his eyes widened when he saw Ino, Hinata, and Karin riding a large orange fox that had a black pattern to it and six tails. (I don't know why they always say red when to me the Kyuubi looks orange).

Ino jumped off Naruto, ran to Choji, and used what field medical knowledge she knew to look Choji over. "you ok Choji?!"

"Ino…? What are you doing here?"

Ino glared at Choji when he asked this question "you and Shikamaru go off without me and you think I wouldn't come after you? We're a team, so we should stick together."

Choji grimaced at both the reprimand and pain "sorry but we didn't have time to find you." he looked towards the other two girls that were getting off the fox "hey you two. What's with the fox?" Choji asked this out of curiosity and slight fear since the only multi tailed fox he knew of was the Kyuubi.

Naruto picked up on the fear in the question and decided to break the ice. It was pointless to keep it a secret if he showed himself already "geez Choji, I come here to save you and _that's_ the thanks I get?"

Choji grew wide-eyed as he recognized that voice "NARUTO?!" he grimaced a bit form this action but he kept his shocked look

Naruto smirked at Choji while showing off his teeth. "No, the Easter bunny! Who else would I be?" he ****henged**** himself into his human form, with clothes on, to make Choji calm down. He smiled when he felt the fear Choji had disappear.

Choji couldn't understand what was going on. His friends came to his rescue and one of them came as a large fox

Ino noticed something that Naruto just did and glared at the boy. "if you can do that and appear with clothes on, why don't you just do that all the time?!"

Naruto felt a blush come across his face as he looked to Ino "even if I henge with clothes on, I'm still naked."

Ino Hinata and Karin blushed as they finally thought about the fact that they were riding on the back of a boy while he was basically in the nude.

Ino glared at him in embarrassment "you could still use the **henge** to avoid looking naked!"

Naruto deadpanned at Ino and said "why don't you go around the village with just henged clothes on and tell me what you think."

The three girls blush went atomic as their faces began to glow red.

Hinata fainted on the spot from the thought of ever doing that and the fact that she was riding on a naked Naruto.

Ino and Karin, however, did something else. They both punched Naruto on the back of his head while both shouting "YOU PERVERT!"

Naruto held the back of his head in pain as his ****henge**** was dispelled. He rubbed the sore spot and would have said something but he felt Ki heading their way. He suddenly got serious, used one of his tails to grab Ino by the waist, pulled her back, and moved to catch a punch sent by Jirobo.

The force of the punch sent a shockwave that forced everyone standing to fall on their ass and Choji to roll away since he was still laying on the ground. Ino just closed her eyes from the wind since she was being held up by Naruto's tail.

Naruto glared at Jirobo as he held onto the man's fist. "you hurt my friend Choji! You were about to hurt Ino-chan! Your gonna pay for that!" Naruto pulled his free hand back and sent a punch at Jirobo's stomach but it was caught by the man. Naruto put Ino down as this became a battle of strength between him and Jirobo.

Ino ran over to Choji to make sure he was ok since he was still injured from his time fighting Jirobo.

Hinata, who woke up from the shockwave, and Karin came up to the two, as Hinata used her Byakugan to check the plump boy over. "his chakra level is almost depleted and he has several bruised or broken bones."

Karin understood the severity of the injuries and lifted up her sleeve before she brought her arm to Choji's mouth. "bite my arm and suck."

Choji remembered that she did this during the Chunin exams for Lee and saw that it healed some of the wounds Lee had so he just did what she told him to do."

"Ahn~"

What the three were not expecting, was the reaction Karin had at being bitten. They all blushed at this while Karin blushed from a completely different reason

Despite the erotic sounds the redhead was making, Choji continued to suck until he felt like he wasn't at death's door anymore and just tired from a training session. He moved away from Karin's arm with a blush on his face "sorry…." before he sat up and looked towards Naruto and Jirobo "shouldn't we help him?"

Hinata shook her head, both to say there was no need and to get rid of the blush she had. "it's alright. Naruto-Kun will be alright on his own."

Choji knew that Naruto was strong but he felt the need to give his friend a warning. "HEY NARUTO! BE CAREFUL, HE ABSORBS CHAKRA FROM TOUCH!"

Naruto turned his head when he heard this and could only think to say "wouldn't be the first time I fought someone who absorbs chakra." He then looked to Jirobo "I would tell you not to... but I hope you do!" Naruto began to push Jirobo back and could feel that his chakra was indeed being absorbed.

Jirobo smirked as he could feel the massive amounts of chakra he was getting "that's right, FEED ME!" he felt himself getting stronger with every passing second. What he did not realize was the side effect that wasn't doing anything to his body but it _was_ doing something to his mind.

Naruto could tell that something was wrong. 'whats going on? Last time someone absorbed my chakra they began to scream out in agony. That was just from a small amount of it but This guy is taking a lot more of it and he seems fine. He's actually getting stronger from it!' Naruto could tell that Jirobo was getting stronger the more he absorbed since it was getting harder and harder pushing him back. 'This guy is able to take my chakra and not suffer from it. I can't let him take any more since I might need it later to help the others.' Naruto brought his tails forward and wrapped around Jirobo's left wrist before he pulled back his left hand to get Jirobo to lose balance. Once Jirobo lost his footing, Naruto used his tail to lift Jirobo by the wrist and began to swing him down into the ground repeatedly.

Jirobo kept on absorbing chakra through the tail as he was smashed into the ground, lifted up and then smashed again over and over and over again. The problem was that the chakra he was absorbing wasn't effecting his body, but his mind. His body felt stronger from it but his mind was being destroyed. In fact, it was destroyed so much that at this point he had not realized that both his legs were shattered, his right arm was at an odd angle, his left arm was dislocated from the force of the swings, and that all his ribs were broken and puncturing several of his organs.

Naruto finished his onslaught before he jumped in the air with Jirobo and on his way down, swung the man as hard as he could into the earth, shaking the ground and making a large crater from the impact. He released Jirobo and took a step back from him but to his surprise, Jirobo was still alive.

Jirobo's mind was so messed up that he had only one thing on his mind "feed me…...feed me….." he reached out, disregarding the pain that his body was in from the movement.

Naruto shook his surprise off as he stepped back. Pushing himself up, he channeled chakra into his two hands (paws or whatever) and made his red and blue **Rasengans**. He jumped into the air and brought them down on Jirobo, one in his head and one in his stomach. "**DOUBLE RASENGAN!**"

The other four had to keep from falling even more from the explosion his attack created, but they were all happy to see him walk out of the crater, looking no worse for wear.

Choji looked up at Naruto who was now standing over them. He trusted his friend's word but he still felt the need to ask "...are you really Naruto?"

Naruto looked down at the sitting boy and eye smiled while also smiling with his teeth "I still owe you a rematch from our last food competition."

Choji smiled at this, as not only did this mean that this was his friend but that he remembered the last time they had a food eating competition, which he lost by one dish.

Ino patted Choji on the shoulder to get his attention "you feeling better?"

Choji got up to his feet but winced as he still felt slight pain "yeah, just a little sore."

The rest nodded as Naruto spoke "good then we need to get moving. The others might need help."

Choji nodded "yeah. There were three others besides Sasuke and they said that this guy was the weakest out of all of them."

Naruto nodded before he made a clone of himself in fox form "ok then we should get going. Karin-chan, you ride with Choji to make sure he is ok."

Karin nodded as she helped Choji onto the clone before she jumped on behind him.

Ino and Hinata got onto the original as they got ready to leave the battlefield.

Choji thought it was weird to be riding on his friend but they were about to go help the others so he wouldn't ask anything.

Karin adjusted her glasses as she spoke to Choji "you better hang on."

Choji would have asked but he got his answer when the clone he was on began to move at incredible speeds. He had to cover his mouth as he felt that he was about to lose his lunch…..and snack….and dinner.

Naruto felt only slightly tired from the fight but he knew that he would recover. 'One down, three more to go'

* * *

End of chapter

Short chapter….yes. But this was the best I could think of to extend the fight.

Each of the fights will take up one chapter, which will, in turn, make them short

Jirobo doesn't really have anything to go with in terms of abilities. He has physical strength and his chakra absorption but that's about it.

I honestly could have finished this fight quickly by having Jirobo absorb Naruto's chakra and have the same effect of the other dude from the Chunin exams (honestly I forgot his name:P ) but that would have been too easy. It was then I remembered that there was a piece of dialogue that said that the curse marks were like a bastardized version of Senjutsu. So I figured that that would counteract the chakra corrosion to a certain degree. His body was able to handle it better but it was destroying his mind, basically making him into a super zombie.

Too bad he didn't last

I was going to have Ino fight alongside Choji at first but in all honesty, she does not have any skills that could help out against someone like Jirobo. not even her summons would have been any help. Ino's summons will get a time to shine but not now.

The part at the beginning was meant to show Asa starting her new life with Anko. it was also meant to show that she did not get over her loss so easily since, to me, the last chapter kinda made it look like that.

Anko will be getting a new place later on but it was still only the first night

Asa's baby sister's name was Kaede but since I don't think that Asa would have been able to say the name properly, she calls her Kay.

Please Read, Favorite, Follow, and review


	48. The Worth of a Hyuga

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

**"****Demon/Summon speech"**

**'****Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts' **

**Jutsu name**

(author comment)

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Beta read by: not yet beta'd

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

**Reviews corner**

Bloody Rogue dragon deity king: maybe

Firestar001: actually she is still single even in Boruto. Trust me I looked it up.

ZyiareHellsing: you're welcome

Narudevilfan: yeah I know it's short but when I watched the canon fights they are actually short, they just have a lot of talking and flashbacks. I'll try and make them longer

Ryojin: :)

Otakumode: I don't think anything could prepare anyone for an Uzumaki's fury

Knight'sShade: than I want my money back for the Billions (pfft yeah right) spent on my TV….anyway I looked up his coloration to get confirmation and yeah it says red-orange. But the only time I have ever really seen Kurama like that was at the very beginning of the series, Hiruzen telling about the attack at the beginning of the series and during the Road to Ninja movie. I'll just leave Naruto orange with a black pattern while Kurama stays the red-orange that his bio says

Voltblaze0522: you're welcome. As things are going yes. It kinda came out this way as I got to this point so yep the rookies are going to find out.

Akaenu: glad you like it.

* * *

Chapter 48: The Worth of a Hyuga

Naruto was running through the forest, still following the scent that was beginning to fade. He felt a bit tired and looked to his clone that was carrying Choji and Karin. "Hey, Choji!"

Choji was eating from another bag of chips that he pulled from one of his pockets. He paused when he heard his name being called. He still felt somewhat reluctant but he answered in his usual jovial attitude "what's up?"

"Gotta any food pills and another bag of chips?"

Choji took a bite from the chip in his hand before he put his hand in his pocket before pulling out some more chips "this is all I got. Don't have any food pills though, sorry."

Naruto nodded as he got closer and used one of his tail to grab the bag.

Karin who had heard what Naruto asked, reached into her Kimono top (is there an actual name for it?) and pulled out a small pouch. She reached into the pouch and pulled out a food pill. "I have some on me."

Naruto looked to Karin and nodded "thanks can you toss a couple in front of me."

Choji was confused at this why would she need to toss them in front of you?"

Naruto just used his second tail to the bag and began trying to open it "I don't really have a free hand in order to take them."

Choji looked down at Naruto's feet and then it clicked. Naruto was running on all fours so he can't really use them like they could.

Karin tossed a few ahead of Naruto who opened his mouth and ate them.

Naruto felt himself regain the chakra he had lost come back quickly. He may not have lost enough to be worried but he wasn't sure if he would need to fight seriously or not and it's best to enter a fight at full strength. He finally got the bag open with his tails and turned his head to look at Ino and Hinata on his back "hold on for a second."

Both nodded as they held on tighter

Naruto leapt into the air before he brought the bag up to his hand and ate as many as he could with his hands. He regained a bit more chakra before he landed back onto the ground and began his run once more. He moved to give the rest to Choji who took the bag and began eating out of it

Hinata patted Naruto's side as she asked "feeling better?"

Naruto nodded "yeah. He may not have taken enough to weaken me, but he did take a lot of it." he took a sniff in the air and felt that he was getting close to a couple of people and one of them he recognized. "Hang on we almost caught up with someone."

* * *

Neji was panting slightly as he had three tan kunai sticking out of his back. He found himself at a disadvantage since he was fighting a long-range fighter and since he could not get close to his opponent, he could not do any damage.

"What is the point of you getting up? You don't stand a chance you! Just roll over and die already! can't beat me!"

At hearing this he had flashbacks to earlier in his shinobi career. He remembered three people who fought against the odds no matter what was said.

"_I don't care what he is. Even without his talent, I can still take him! If I just work hard enough….!"_

"_It's no use, Lee. it doesn't matter how hard you work, you will never beat me. It has already been decided."_

Lee who had no talent in using anything but Taijutsu. He trained himself to the limit and soon became one of the toughest genin in Konoha.

"_You should quiet now. You cannot think that you have a chance of defeating me."_

"_No! I will prove that I am capable of fighting"_

"_You will never prove that you are anything but a failure!"_

Hinata, who he had demeaned because of his hatred for the main family. She had taken everything he had said and she stood against him despite the thoughts of other Hyuga thinking that she was too weak to be part of the main family.

"_Fate made it so everyone was against me...if I do become Hokage, I will protect the village with everything I have"_

"_Why fight to protect the people that hate you?"_

"_I'm not fighting for them"_

Then there was Naruto. He was the one that had been going against the very village that he lives in. that moment in the arena had shown that the blond fought against his very allies yet he moved forward, he beat the one they all wanted to win and he didn't even look tired when they finished.

Neji could not help but smile at this "the dead last of his year became the strongest out of all of the genin. If such a thing is true… then why can't a genius become more…."

Kidomaru smirked as he watched the Hyuga get up from being hit by his kunai. "He was fun but time to wrap this up" he brought up one of his hands that had a web wrapped around his index finger. He strummed it with another one of his hands, signaling his spider summon to drop down on top of the Hyuga

Neji looked up to see the large spider dropping on top of him. Channeling chakra into his palms, he waited for the spider to land before he began striking the spider multiple times.

Kidomaru saw that his summon was about to burst so he brought up another web and let it slide off his finger, just in time for the boy to burst the summon and be covered in the webbing.

Because of being slowed down by the webbing that came out of the spider, Neji was unable to stop all the kunai that were launched at him. Because of this, he was hit in the back by several more kunai.

Kidomaru could not help but smile evilly at this. He was enjoying the fight and felt that he should take it up a notch despite already having an advantage. He activated his curse mark, entering stage two. 'This has been fun but I think it's time to end him.' he opened his mouth, letting out a tan liquid material. Soon the material shaped itself into a longbow and arrow. 'Sorry kid, but it's time to die' he lifted himself using four of his arms, while the other two were holding the bow and stabilizing the string. He had the back of his arrow in his teeth as he aimed carefully at the blind spot that he had found to be in the Hyuga's 360-degree vision. Chuckling to himself he let the arrow fly.

The arrow sped quickly through several of the trees in between Kidomaru and Neji.

Neji stood there feeling exhausted from the fight. He channeled his chakra to create a dome around him to stop any upcoming attack. His eyes suddenly widened when he felt some things coming his way "!"

*BOOM*

Kidomaru was smiling as the dust cloud picked up. He knew that he had won this fight as the arrow would have gone through the boy's spine at such speeds that it would have shattered. As the smoke cleared his smile dropped at what he was seeing "What!?"

Neji was wide-eyed at what he was seeing behind him with his dojutsu. He turned his head to get a better look at it and was stunned at what it was

Naruto had caught the arrow a few inches from Neji. he was glaring at the direction the arrow had come from and bared his teeth at Kidomaru.

Neji turned off his Byakugan and stared at the large fox that stood there.

"Neji-nii-san!"

Neji looked to the back of the fox to see Hinata and Ino getting off the fox before they went to him. A little more to his left was another one that looked exactly the same as the first one carrying Choji and Karin if he remembered correctly.

"Damn Neji, you look like crap."

Neji looked towards where he heard the voice and only saw the fox looking at him. He recognized the voice but he could not see the one that spoke "Naruto? Where are you?"

Naruto would have loved to mess with him but he knew that now was not the time "right here."

Neji went wide-eyed when he saw that it was the fox that spoke

Naruto loved the shocked look on Neji's face but he grew serious when he heard several whooshes. He looked up to see hordes of kunai heading their way. He quickly swung his tails, sending a wave of wind at them, causing the kunai to fall limply on the ground but he saw that a couple were heading to Choji and Karin. He relaxed when he saw his clone block those as well. "What are we dealing with?"

Neji was able to catch his breath and shake off his shock as he spoke "a long-range shinobi that uses a secretion from his body to create his own weapons. He also had attributes of a spider and uses that dark power that the Uchiha has.

Naruto nodded as he got ready "ok, I'll take him out as fast as possible."

Neji shook his head as he took a step towards Kidomaru "no. I wish to be the one to fight him. There is something I want to confirm."

Ino huffed at this as she glared at Neji "what's the point of you fighting him yourself when we all can fight and finish him off fast?"

Naruto placed his paw on her shoulder getting her attention. Once she looked at him he shook his head "I know that look in his eyes." Naruto looked to Neji's back "he has something to prove."

Ino didn't really understand what he meant but she trusted his judgment on things like this.

Karin huffed as she just walked up to Neji. she forcefully pulled out the kunai that were in his back, getting him to grunt in pain, before she moved in front of him. She lifted her sleeve and brought her arm up "you better heal up first or else I will knock you out and let Naruto handle this."

Neji was a little stunned at the girl but he obliged as he remembered what happened when she did this to Lee.

Naruto had to block another wave of Kunai aimed at everyone as Neji healed up.

Getting past around of erotic monas from the redhead, Neji stood up straight and walked towards Kidomaru

Kidomaru did not know what to make of the group that came to the Hyuga's aid he recognized the fat one from before, which meant that Jirobo had lost. 'That pathetic tub of lard couldn't even beat the brat.' He was surprised to see that the boy he was fighting had been healed and by how the others were letting him move, it would still be just him. 'Seems like it will just be a bit harder in killing him….huh?'

Neji was about to tell the others to leave but someone walked up to stand next to him. Looking to his left he saw that it was Hinata. "I said that I would fight this on my own."

Hinata shook her head as she activated her Byakugan "but you don't have to. I will stand with you and we will defeat this opponent."

Before Neji could say anything Naruto spoke up

"Hinata…..no holding back. This is to protect someone you care about so think of him and give it your all!"

Hinata nodded before she lifted her sleaves a bit to reveal small bands around her wrists, she gently took them off before moved to give them to Naruto. Once he took them she moved to stand by Neji once more

Ino looked at the bands that Naruto had in his hands and asked "what's with those things?"

Naruto smirked as he brought one up for Ino to take

Ino lifted her hand to take it but once Naruto dropped it in her hand, she felt herself be pulled to the ground as the band weighed a lot more than she would have expected "what the hell!?"

Naruto laughed a bit at what happened to Ino "I gave those to Hinata during the month training before the finals. They are like my bracers and greaves but they weigh a lot less. They help Hinata grow stronger and faster with her strikes."

Ino glared at Naruto at not only not telling her about the weight but also "why didn't you give me a pair to help me train?"

Naruto's mood dropped as he said "we…...were still not talking to each other…."

Ino felt bad for bringing up this bad memory as she whispered "sorry…."

Naruto shook his head as he took a few steps back away from the Hyuags "don't worry about it. Anyway we should let them finish this guy off." he, Choji, Karin, Ino and his clone moved away from the battlefield and into the trees so they could watch

Neji and Hinata stood side by side as they face the direction of Kidomaru.

Neji wanted to face off the Oto nin alone but the look in Hinata's eyes told him he would not be able to dissuade her out of it. He took a breath and brought something up "be careful. He knows of the weakness."

Hinata was stunned to hear this but she kept her composure as she got into her stance "I'll be careful."

Neji got into his own stance and activated his Byakugan "very well Hinata-sama."

Kidomaru frowned at what he was seeing. "Shit. dealing with one Hyuga was easy enough, but now with two, they can cover each other's blind spot' he began to think of what he could do but figure he would go with the direct approach. 'Well then….' he created two arrows this time, both with a spiral tip, and held a web at one end. 'I might as well just see how much pain they can tolerate til they die.' he shifted his gaze to the rest of the group and wondered 'I better keep an eye on them so I don't get surprised by them. But if they really are just going to sit back and watch, then once I kill these two, I will have to leave since they might fight me all at once. I don't want to know what that fox can do' he remembered how the fox had stopped his arrow with one hand. That kind of skill is something he doesn't want to test after fighting this long. He docked the two arrows and aimed at the Hyugas. '125% strength. Full power!' he launched the arrows and focused on controlling them so they would hit a fatal part of the body

Neji and Hinata both saw the arrows coming at incredible speed and Neji was thinking of a way they could stop them. The kunai were one thing but the arrow seems to be going to quickly to strike it out of the air.

Hinata felt nervous about the coming arrows but she had trained on fast approaching obstacles thanks to training with Naruto. Her mind came up with three ideas but one of them was the one she felt would be the most efficient. She just hopped Neji wouldn't argue. "Neji! **ROTATION!"**

The force of the order had Neji instinctively obey. He did wonder what good this would do as he saw that the arrows were now too close for them to move out of the way quick enough. He began to rotate his body and wondered what Hinata was going to do. He assumed she would jump out of the way or use his rotation as a way to divert the arrows but what she did was something she did not expect.

Hinata pressed her back with Neji's and rotated with him. She channeled her chakra into her palms and activated her jutsu **"****PROTECTIVE EIGHT TRIGRAMS: SIXTY FOUR PALMS!"** thin strings of chakra came out of her palm as she stretched out her hands and moved them around. The strings of her chakra began to wrap around Neji's Rotation dome and soon streams of thin chakra spun with it.

Both the arrows impacted with the double dome of chakra with great force. However, the arrows began to break from the strength of the move. They broke apart until they were just shards that fell to the ground

Kidomaru could not believe what he had seen. 'WHAT!? Those arrows were sent at full power! It should have gone straight through that dome and shredded through them! How the hell did they stop it!?"

Both Hinata and Neji stopped rotating and both face the direction of Kidomaru.

Neji was surprised but the collaboration jutsu that they had just done. He would never have thought that such a thing could be done with the rotation. He was also surprised that Hinata had been able to rotate at the same speed he did. 'How was she able to move that quickly and how did she come up with such a move?' he looked toward Hinata who now stood to his right and could not help admire her for something that he could never have thought up in his life. His eyes widened when he saw that she had a cut on her cheek. "Hinata you're injured!"

Hinata smiled at Neji as she brought her hand up to her cheek "thank you for your concern Neji-nii-san but we must finish this." she wiped some of her blood on her thumb before she brought the thumb to her palm.

Naruto smiled as she saw what she was about to do "looks like she is about to finish this fight."

Choji Karin and Ino looked to Naruto who was laying down on the branch, next to them, before Choji asked "what do you mean Naruto?"

Naruto smiled as he focused on Hinata "she has been practicing with her new allies and now she is about to show that spider freak and Neji what she can really do."

Hinata went through hand signs before she slammed both her palms on the ground **"****Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"** two puffs of smoke appeared before they dissipated showing two lionesses wearing regal armor. One wearing red armor with gold highlights on her torso and forelimbs while the other wore similar armor but colored blue with gold highlights.

Both bowed their head to Hinata as the one in red armor spoke: "at your service Lady Hinata."

Hinata smiled "thank you Kira-san. We need you and Kara-san to help us reach our opponent."

Kara nodded her head as she moved to stand by Neji "very well Lady Hinata."

Neji was dumbfounded by the fact that Hinata had actually summoned a pair of Lions to their aid

Hinata looked to Neji and spoke with confidence "let us end this battle Neji-nii-san."

Neji shook his head before he smiled and nodded "very well Hinata-sama."

The four now stood in a line facing Kidomaru before they began running towards him

Kidomaru was stunned to see that he was now facing two summons along with the Hyuga pair. "Shit! I should have finished him off at the start!" he began to web swing around the trees in order to get more distance so he could try the arrows again.

The group of four began to follow Kidomaru making sure that they maintained formation as best they could.

Kidomaru created several kunai and launched them to the group.

Seeing the kunai heading their way both Neji and Hinata leapt into the air to block them.

Neji did a quick Rotation, causing the kunai to fall to the ground

Hinata rapidly moved her arms around her and created a web of chakra which caused the kunai she blocked to break apart.

Kira saw the opportunity they were looking for. Kidomaru was in their direct path. "Lady Hinata! Now!" she then jumped to be behind Hinata

Hinata looked towards Neji as they began their descent to the ground "Neji! Follow my lead!"

Neji would have asked but she watched as Hinata sped up her descent.

Kira began to channel chakra as she matched Hinata's fall **"****Earth Style: Earth Spire!"**

Once they both landed, Kira created a spire of earth to appear under Hinata at an angle.

Hinata used the creation of the spire to launch herself forward at a fast pace, towards Kidomaru.

Kidomaru was unprepared for the sudden speed boost she was given and he was mid-swing, using his feet so he was upsidedown, unable to redirect himself.

Hinata thrusted a palm strike to Kidomaru's right and flew past him before she planted her feet on a tree she was heading to before she pushed herself back towards Kidomaru

Neji had seen Hinata being launched towards Kidomaru and knew what she wanted. His theory was proven correct when Kara moved behind him as they were still falling to the ground. He prepared himself as he heard her speak

**"****Earth Style: Earth Spire!"**

Neji did the exact same thing Hinata did and was launched towards Kidomaru

Kidomaru was still grimacing at the strike on his stomach but when he opened his eyes he saw Neji right in his face. Something he didn't know was that Hinata was right behind him

Both Neji and Hinata channeled their chakra into their hands before they both spoke.

**"****EIGHT TRIGRAMS: SIXTY FOUR PALMS!"**

Neji struck Kidomaru with his duel finger strikes on fatal points on Kidomaru's body

Hinata struck using her palms, sending her chakra into his body to do more spread out internal damage on Kidomaru.

Both struck their sixty-fourth strike at Kidomaru's center on both his front and back.

Kidomaru coughed up blood as he fell to the ground as he began to change back from his curse mark second state. "shit! I….can't…..feel ...my chakra!"

Both Hinata and Neji landed next to Kidomaru as the two lionesses walked up to stand with them.

Neji looked to Hinata and felt himself smile "you have gotten stronger Hinata-sama."

Hinata blushed at the praise as she looked to Neji "thank you Neji-nii-san but…." she looked to her right at the rest of the group that were coming up "I could not have done it without Naruto-kun."

Kidomaru wanted to get the last word at them but he found himself unable to speak. 'Son of a bitch! They are stronger than I thought. Even Kimamaru never got me this bad.' he felt his vision fade as he had one final thought 'the others better move fast….because I don't think any of them would be able to stop this group…..'

Naruto felt the anger coming from Kidomaru disappear and figured that it meant he was dead. He looked to the Hyuga's before speaking "that was an awesome fight! Never thought you would come up with those moves so quickly but Hinata has been coming up with some cool moves when we trained."

When he finished saying this he found himself in pain as Ino grabbed him by the ear and spoke in it "when this is over you are going to help train me as well! It's not fair that you train with Hinata alone."

"Owowowowowowowow! Ino-chan that hurts! Ok ok, I'll help you in training so please let go!"

Everyone had a laugh at this as this battle was over.

* * *

End of chapter

Well here is the fight. Hope you all like how I went with this fight.

Hinata is stronger at this point so I gave her, her protective eight trigrams seen in the Beakochu beetle filler. I also wanted to give her summons some spotlight.

I watch ed this fight and I realize that Kidomaru much like Jirobo, falls from one solid attack. Kinda hard to think of them as elite ninja from Orochimaru.

Now I was asked by a reviewer to spare Tayuya. Honestly, I could but I want to ask you guys. Do you readers want me to spare her? I created a poll on whether or not she lives.

Also, what do you think of the new cover art? I finally came up with the idea and drew it.

Please Read Favorite, Follow, and Review


	49. Aiding Allies

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

**"Demon/Summon speech"**

**'Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts' **

**"Jutsu name"**

(author comment)

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Beta read by: not yet beta'd

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

**Reviews Corner**

**For those who pointed out some errors in chapter 48**: thank you for telling me what the errors were and not being an a** about it. Seriously thank you. I don't understand why people enjoy saying "your grammar sucks" instead of giving helpful tips or advice. I mean just say where the error is and leave it at that. I've gone back and fixed the ones pointed out.

**Ladygoddess8:** thanks for that. Gave me an idea on what to do with her.

**Absolom Hellgate:** I actually just gained a plan for her but she won't really have a grand part other than my plan.

**Fernando Verdus:** glad you enjoyed the story so much that you read it non stop. Hope you continue to enjoy it.

**Autobot-Wolfsketch:** I wanted her to be stronger than her cannon version so I showed that she is able to do the 64 palms now since she wasn't able to do it until the war in the canon.

**Guest (spanish):**.Pienso lo mismo. pero ahora tengo un plan para ella

**Otakumode:** interesting pairing. I might do that but I am not sure.

**DragoonSensei:** welcome to this story. Yeah I wanted to add something that I haven't read in other fics so I try and come up with training methods that are plausible in their world and techniques that I can claim I came up with. :P

**Codathewizard: **I'm glad you like the fights and you find them interesting. To answer your two questions: yes eventually it will convert. Already have a plan on how it will happen. And for your second question: he will keep growing. Think of it this way Kurama got to his sze after centuries of growing, Naruto only has under a decade. So eventually he will grow in size.

**Guest:** glad you like it

**InfernalzRush:** well the wait is over.

* * *

Chapter 49: Aiding Allies

"THOSE FUCKING MORONS!"

The peaceful air in Konoha was suddenly disrupted when everyone heard their Hokage shout at the top of her lungs.

Tsunade was furious right now. She had sent out an Anbu to summon Naruto to her office as she had not received his written report from his previous mission that he returned to a couple of days ago. But the Anbu was not able to find the boy. It wasn't until she was visited by Shino Aburame, who was at the moment standing in front of her desk, that she learned that Naruto, Ino, and Hinata had left the village and were on their way towards the retrieval team.

Shino had heard what had happened from one of his insects that he let roam the village during that time. The insect had returned to him only an hour ago and once he learned that Naruto, Ino, and Hinata had gone after the team, he went straight to the Hokage to inform her about this. Right now, he as well as his insects were shivering from the KI that the Hokage was releasing. The only thing that made it more tolerable was the fact that he knew that her anger wasn't aimed at him.

Shizune moved to stand next to Tsunade as she tried to calm her down. "Now Lady Tsunade, please calm down."

Tsunade felt like breaking something but after hearing Shizune, she took deep breaths to calm herself. Once she calmed down she sat down in her seat and rubbed her forehead to try and stave off the oncoming migraine. After a minute of calming down, she heard a knock at the door. In anger, she grunted out an "Enter!"

The door opened to show Kakashi nonchalantly coming in with his hands in his pockets. He walked until he was standing next to Shino, who he gave an eye smile at before facing the Hokage. He knew that she was mad about something but he knew that it wasn't at him so he should be relatively safe. "Here to report on my mission, Hokage-sama"

Tsunade still felt her anger boiling her blood but with the arrival of Kakashi, she now had an idea on a way to fix the situation.

Kakashi for some reason, felt like he should have added three more hours to his delayed arrival.

* * *

~with Naruto~

Neji felt extremely uncomfortable at the moment. He considered himself to be a very collected individual and there have not been many things in his life that would make him question things. However, at the moment he could not help but do just that.

"Don't get used to this. I am not going to be a ride for everyone every time we go out on a mission. This is only because we need to hurry and catch up with the others."

Neji looked down at the large fox Naruto clone that he was riding. This is what had him a little stunned since he would never think that he would be riding on the back of a six tailed fox. Even more so riding on the Chunin that had beaten him in the Chunin exams. Before he could say anything, the original Naruto began to speak.

"Karin-chan! How are you with your chakra level?"

Karin took a second to check her chakra before answering "with the rest that I get from riding your clone, my levels are at 60% more or less!"

Naruto nodded before he and his clones had come out of the forest, only to dig their claws into the ground to stop themselves from falling into a ravine that seemed to split the forest in two.

Everyone that was riding Naruto and his clones screamed at the sudden stop and held on as tight as they could to whatever they were holding on to so they wouldn't fall off.

Once everyone had stabilized themselves on their ride's back, some of them had begun yelling at Naruto and his clones for the sudden stop, namely Ino and Karin.

Karin would have hit the clone she was on but she knew that it would dispel if she hit it hard enough so she restrained herself

Ino, however, whacked him in the head. "Damn it Naruto! Don't just stop like that without warning!"

Naruto just turned his head to look at Ino and used one of his paws to point in front of them.

Everyone followed the finger to see the massive ravine that they almost fell into. Most of them were then very thankful that Naruto had control enough to stop before falling in.

Neji berated himself for not seeing it as he knew that even without his Byakugan, he should have seen that coming but he was still in a bit of befuddlement about riding Naruto.

Choji pulled out another bag of chips since he dropped his last one. "*munch munch* so we gotta get to the other side right?"

Naruto didn't answer as he sniffed the air, catching the scent of his comrade "Kiba and Akamaru are close. They are next to…...two people. They smell foul, like the other guys that your team was chasing."

Neji spoke up at this "Kiba-san must be fighting a couple of the members. Although Akamaru is with him, it is not favorable for him." Neji figured that now that they have caught up, they can help him out now. "Where are they?"

Naruto took another few whiffs in the air before he realized that the smell led into the raven. He smelled something else but at the moment he did not think it was really important. After he got the scent he gestured his head "he is in the ravine itself."

Everyone was shocked to hear this with some of them thinking that Kiba and Akamaru fell into it

Hinata felt worried for her teammate as she spoke "we need to go help him Naruto-Kun."

Naruto nodded as Ino spoke up in concern

"It will take forever for us to get down there!"

Naruto then gained an idea "not if we take the shortcut."

Everyone looked at the original Naruto in confusion with Karin asking "what shortcut?"

Naruto looked to his clones and each of them nodded. Each of them tensed their muscles, which did not go unnoticed by the riders

Ino suddenly felt like something was about to happen. Something that she was not going to like "Naruto …..what are you doing?"

Naruto began to move

Hinata felt fear take over as she gripped the scruff of Naruto's neck "N-n-naruto-k-Kun?"

In a split second, all of the riders felt a sense of weightlessness. Naruto had moved quickly before any of them had a chance. They all immediately realized that the ground under each of the clones and the original Naruto was now no longer underneath them. For a second they felt the weightlessness and then they felt it. The quick rush that came from falling and they all did the only thing their mind would allow them to do

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"NARUTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

They screamed at the top of their lungs as they fell into the ravine at high speeds and they held onto the fox they were on for dear life.

* * *

~Kiba~

**"****Fang over Fang!"**

Kiba and Akamaru, who had transformed into a clone of Kiba, used their signature jutsu against their opponent hoping to do at least some sort of damage.

Throughout the first part of the fight, Kiba found out that what he assumed to be just one person turned out to be two fused together. As the fight continued, he learned that the second person added his own limbs to create multiple limbed attacks so when he should have been hit with just one right hook, it turned into three fists instead.

Once Kiba and Akamaru landed a hit on the person, both Kiba and Akamaru were now pushing back against a set of hands from the two in one opponent.

Kiba was gritting his teeth at this. 'Damn it! Whatever hell kind of jutsu that is, it's becoming a pain in the ass!' Seeing that he couldn't use his arms at the moment he opted to try and kick the body. Much to his ire, a foot seemed to come out of the stomach and block his kick. 'Damn it.'

Akamaru was in the same situation as Kiba but when he heard Kiba grunt, he took his eyes off the one he was facing. This was a mistake as he found himself being headbutted back.

Kiba heard the yelp form his partner and looked towards Akamaru. Suddenly a pair of hands came out of the stomach net to the foot that blocked his kick and grabbed his leg.

Sakon smiled as he spun his body, pulling the Inuzuka around and slammed the dog clone while also tossing the boy to the side. "Thanks for the assist Ukon."

The second head smirked at this "you were taking too long." activating their curse mark, Ukon gained red tone to his skin, his teeth became more animalistic and gained one horn on the right side of his forehead. "Let's end them already."

Sakon sighed as he also activated his curse mark "very well." he gained the same features as Ukon but with his horn on the left side. Once they were both transformed they ran towards Kiba

Kiba got to his feet as Akamaru barked at him

*ARF ARF*

Kiba smiled as he wiped some blood from his chin "yeah yeah, I know. Damn it, you and Naruto are always telling me to never underestimate my opponent." he looked at the charging twins and smirked, "Guess it's time we tear him to shreds! Let's go Akamaru!" he charged to meet his opponent as Akamaru flanked them. As he got closer he dropped to a slide and kicked out one of the legs.

Sakon saw this and his brother extended his legs to make their stability stronger.

Kiba grit his teeth at his failed attempt but he got to his feet and aimed a right hook at his face

Ukon brought his hand out of Sakon's left shoulder and caught the fist.

Kiba was really starting to hate that ability but he grinned as he brought his other hand to grip on Ukons wrist, keeping them in place in a way. "NOW AKAMARU!"

Sakon and Ukon noticed a shadow on them so they both looked up in time to see the white puppy right above them.

Akamaru then began to spin in the air while sending out piss. His aim was true as he covered Ukon and Sakon's head with it.

Both jumped in surprise "Argh what the hell!?" "Did that dog just piss on us?" they moved back and tried to wipe it off them as best they could

Kiba smiled as he jumped up, had Akamaru land on his head, and did one hand-sign. "Here we go! **Inuzuka Style: Man Beast Transformation Combo: Two-Headed Wolf!"** 'heh let's see Naruto outdo this!'

Both Akamaru and Kiba were enveloped in a large puff of smoke which caught the attention of both Ukon and Sakon

The two brothers looked up to see the large puff of smoke begin to clear. They watch as, out of the smoke, a massive two-headed white wolf appeared and growled menacingly at them "well….this should be interesting"

Kiba lunged at the now smaller target and had the left head bite down on where they were

Sakon jumped out of the way and watched as the rocky ground that he once stood at was shattered. "Shit! We better not get caught by this mutt."

"Sakon LOOK OUT!"

Sakon looked to his right to see the second head open its mouth before chomping down on him "AARGH!"

Kiba had half of the body in his mouth and began to shake his head violently (just to be clear on things. Kiba is the Right head and Akamaru is the left. Ukon is the right and Sakon is the left). Kiba pressed his jaw shut as hard as he could but was unable to bite completely through since Ukon, who was inside the mouth, was using three hands and three legs to try and pry it open to get free. 'Damn this guy is stubborn!'

Ukon was screaming in both pain and fear "let me go, you filthy BITCH!"

Kiba and Akamaru didn't take any real offense at being called that since for Inuzuka, "Bitch" is an actual term for female dogs…..Kiba did however take offense at being called female. He pressed down harder which caused Ukon to begin to panic. Kiba turned his gaze to Akamaru and shifted his head a bit

Akamaru already knew what Kiba wanted and moved his head.

Sakon was hitting the mouth as best he could but from the angel and the lack of extra limb help, couldn't even cause a flinch from the large canine. "Let us go you ….!" he didn't get to finish his statement as he saw movement from the corner of his eye. He turned his head just in time to see the second mouth chomp down on his side "AAAAARRRRGGGGHHH"

Kiba and Akamaru pressed their teeth down hard. Both tasted the copper flavor of blood and knew they now had a solid grip before they began to pull. In a quick motion, they pulled and ripped the two apart before flinging what they had in different directions and watched as the two halves of the body just rolled on the ground. They did not undo their jutsu yet since they learned that it was wise to make absolutely sure that their opponent was dead. They were proven right as they saw one of the bodies convulse before it grew an arm, and a leg but instead of flesh, it looked like it was a black scaly armor.

Ukon got back to his feet and breathed a sigh of relief that he was able to survive what he just went through. "Shit! That was too close." he looked over to his brother, who was beyond the large mutt and noticed that he wasn't moving

Sakon couldn't move as he groaned in pain. The main problem was that he had lost both his leg and arm since Ukon used his limbs as well to try and get free. He was glad that he actually survived but he was really hating the aftereffects of their Kekkei Genkai. True that it allowed them to fuse and use each other's body parts to help out and they are able to heal while fused but the problem was that if they are damaged enough, the wounds could become fatal for one of them. It's true that they can heal while fused but it puts them out of commission for a while. He was damaged more than Ukon because in a sense there is less of him on this part of the body. Channeling his chakra, he regrew his missing half to look just like his brother at the moment but he felt sluggish and frail. "Damn it. I need to fuse back with Ukon."

Kiba and Akamaru kept their gaze on each. Kiba looking to his right at Ukon and Akamaru looking to the left at Sakon. "How the hell are they still alive? We ripped him in two."

***ARF***

"Well we haven't used the move yet so we might as well use it now." Kiba looked back and forth between the two, thinking on who to use it on first. He noticed that Sakon looked to be the most tired of the two and decided on him. He and Akamaru turned to face him and began charging

Ukon saw this and noticed that Sakon was looked down to the ground in exhaustion. "Sakon MOVE!"

Sakon looked up and began to panic.

Kiba and Kamaru gained the momentum they need and jumped in the air before spinning rapidly **"****Wolf Fang over Fang"**

Sakon had enough energy to jump out of the way but was still clipped in the side.

Ukon ran towards his brother in order to fuse together again. This fight is not going their way at all. The sudden transformation that the boy used changed everything. They had the advantage in a taijutsu fight since they could block any attack the kid had but not the size difference and change in strength put the kid on the winning side. He felt relief when he saw Sakon dodge the attack and Ukon assumed that the large two-headed dog would need to stop for a second before turning around and charging again. Unfortunately, this was not what happened.

Sakon rolled on the ground after being clipped and rolled to his feet. 'I need to get to Ukon NOW!.' he looked over to his brother before looking at the spinning two-headed wolf. He had also, unknowingly assumed the same thing as his brother but to his shock, instead of stopping, the kid just bounced off the ground and looped up and back towards him. His eyes widened at the incoming attack. He was so surprised that he stopped all movement. It was only at the last second that the regained his wits but by then it was too late. The attack dug into his chest and he could feel himself being torn apart. "aaaaaAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH"

Ukon watched as the attack ripped through his brother and the remains of him were sent into the river. "You fucking piece of shit!"

Kiba and Akamaru watched as the one they attacked ended up sinking into the water. They turned their gaze to the last one and chose not to give him a chance to do anything. 'Better finish him off fast. I'm running out of chakra already.' **"****Wolf Fang Over Fang"**

Ukon was gritting his teeth as he saw the incoming attack. Knowing that he would not be able to handle it he came up with a last-second defense. He waited until the attack was close enough before he channeled all his chakra into his palms, brought his hands to his mouth, bit both his thumbs, and slammed both hands on the ground **"****Summoning Jutsu."** Ukon summoned a large red door-like barrier that had a demonic face on it.

Kiba was unable to see the direction he was going since the spin of the attack caused him to be unable to see clearly. He was using the scent mark that Akamaru used to track down where his opponent was. Due to this weakness, he was unable to see the wall in front of him and Akamaru so they ended up slamming into it, leaving a good-sized dent in it. The sudden stop gave both him and Akamaru massive head trauma. Their attack jutsu stopped as they began to fall towards the ground. They impacted the ground hard and rolled away from the barrier. It was unfortunate that they ran out of chakra at that point and their transformation dispelled. Kiba groaned as he tried to pick himself up from the ground. Looking to his left he saw Akamaru was lawing on the ground whimpering. This caused Kiba to drag himself to his partner and brought him into his arms as he sat up "damn it. Looks like we reached the end of our rope huh?"

*whimper*

Kiba heard chuckling and looked up to see Ukon walking toward him but he also noticed that the transformation was undoing itself.

Ukon was exhausted. Using the summoning jutsu without Sakon had cost him the last of his chakra and even if his power was boosted with curse mark, the loss of Sakon had been a major blow. "Hehe looks like you are screwed." he pulled out a kunai from his sleeve as he made his way to the downed Inuzuka. "Too bad for you that I still have the energy to finish you off."

Kiba spat out some blood as he smirked at Ukon "screw you, you sorry sack of shit." Kiba held Akamaru closer to his chest as if to protect him.

Ukon smiled sadistically as he now stood a few feet away. "Those are your last words kid." he lifted his kunai ready to strike him down

**"****Wind Style: Great Wind Protective Wall"**

Ukon found himself being flung away by a large gust of wind and slammed him into a boulder.

Kiba smirked as he looked down "about time you showed up."

"Don't act like you knew I was coming."

"I caught your scent a bit ago. You smell like desert lilies so I knew you were coming. " he looked up to see the back of Temari "thanks for the save."

Temari looked back at Kiba and gave a playful smirk "I did it to save the dog since you couldn't protect him yourself."

Kiba grumbled at that jab but did nothing other than lean back a bit and sighed tiredly

Both heard the movement of Ukon and looked over to see him slowly getting up.

Ukon whipped the blood from his forehead as he glared at the newcomer "who the hell are you?!"

Temari smiled as she answered "I am an ally of Konoha. That's all you need to know…" she pulled her fan to her side as she channeled her chakra to finish the guy off "and all you will ever know. **Wind Style: Wind Cutter barrage!"** Temari swung her fan, sending several blades of wind towards Ukon.

Ukon panicked as he saw the blades of wind heading his way. He tried to move out of the way but, without the use of chakra, it was pointless as he found himself being sliced into pieces.

Temari smirked as she closed her fan and slammed it on the ground "too easy."

Kiba barked out a laugh "ha! Only because I weakened him to the point that he was already dead on his feet!"

"Keep telling yourself that dog boy."

Kiba grumbled as he fell on his back with Akamaru now on his lap "urgh. I'm too tired to handle you."

Temari smiled at this "you make it sound like you could handle me."

"Hey! Don't forget who almost won our first match."

"Almost is still losing."

"Damn female, Suna, fan-wielding, wind user."

Temari walked to him until she stood over him "quiet your grumbling and sit up. We gotta take care of your wounds."

Kiba grumbled one more time before he sat up and patted Akamaru, who was now wagging his tail at the sight of Temari.

Temari spent a few minutes dabbing some antiseptic on a cut on Kiba's arm before she heard something.

Kiba had heard it too and looked around to see where it was coming from "you hear that?"

Temari nodded as she put her hand on the fan on her back "yeah, but what is it?"

They both listened closely until it became clearer

"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

***BOOM***

***BOOM***

***BOOM***

Three large puffs of smoke and debris blocked what had landed in front of them.

Temari brought out her fan ready for an attack while Kiba got to his feet and brought his fists up to at least defend himself

Akamaru, on the other hand, began to wag his tail, even more. *arf arf!*

Kiba looked to Akamaru in confusion "what do you mean 'friends'?"

Both Temari and Kiba waited for the smoke to clear up and when it did they were stunned to see who it was. They saw that it was Ino, Hinata, Choji, Karin, and Neji but from the looks they had, they were not feeling very well.

What surprised Kiba was the fact that they were all riding large six tailed foxes.

Ino, Choji, Karin, and Neji fell off and collapsed onto the ground while Hinata collapsed on the back of the fox she was riding.

Ino was hyperventilating as she was on her hands and knees, Karin fell flat on her front and trying to catch her breath, Neji tried to get back on his feet on wobbly legs and Choji ran to the side to let loose his lunch.

Temari took her hand off her fan before she smiled at the group before walking towards them "looks like you guys made it through your fights."

Ino looked up at Temari as she began to speak through pants "th….they….made it out….with some….help."

Temari looked up to Naruto who was using one of his tails to gently put Hinata on the ground "I'm sure I know who helped them out."

Naruto and his clones sat in a line as they looked towards Temari and smiled.

Kiba was confused about what Temari was doing. He seemed to be looking at the foxes with a grateful look on her face. His confusion grew when Akamaru ran up to the center fox and was barking in excitement.

Naruto was looking down at Akamaru and gave a toothy smile. He was about to say something but he was interrupted by Kiba

"Hey what the hell are you guys doing here?"

Everyone looked towards Kiba who was making his way towards them.

Kiba looked between everyone in confusion "I'm glad to see you guys made it through your fights but what are Ino and Hinata doing here? And who summoned these foxes. Did one of you get a fox summoning contract or something?"

Naruto had to hold in his laughter since he himself _did _get the Fox summoning contract but Kiba was thinking that he himself _was _one of the summons. He chose to keep quiet and see how long he can keep up this facade as Kia was moving closer to him to examine him. Unfortunately, his fun came to a halt when he felt malicious intent moving fast in their direction

Kiba was surprised at the size of the foxes but something about them was familiar. Not just the way they look but their scent too. He knows he had smelled it before, plenty of times but at the moment his mind just couldn't connect them. As he was looking the center one over, he was suddenly hit in the face hard.

Everyone was shocked to see Kiba being hit but it wasn't the fact that he was hit, but the fact that the hit came from Naruto.

Naruto was speechless by what happened but he didn't have time to do anything since the malicious intent was right on top of him but as he looked around, he couldn't see anyone that would be releasing it.

"Hehe, I should thank you for arriving. This summon is chock-full of chakra for me to use."

Everyone looked towards where the voice came from and were surprised to see it was coming from Naruto or rather the head that was coming out of Naruto's left shoulder blade.

Naruto looked over his shoulder to look at the head of Sakon.

Sakon smiled sadistically at everyone "thought I was dead, didn't you? Too bad I was able to live through that jutsu you used."

Kiba got back to his feet as he glared at the Oto nin "we tore you to pieces! Why won't you stay dead!?"

Sakon laughed at them as he spoke "I was very nearly dead but I was able to hold on to the last bit of life. And thanks to this summons immense chakra, I will be able to reform myself."

Everyone got into a ready stance, preparing to attack Sakon who's next words stopped them

"Ah ah. If you attack me, the only one that will be hurt is this fox."

Everyone was worried about Naruto, except for Kiba since he still thought it was a summon but he was worried about the fox's well being.

Sakon could feel his body reforming thanks to fusing with the body of the fox.

Naruto was irritated at the fact that he was being used to help the enemy…..again. 'Why does everyone try and use me to make themselves stronger?!' not in the mood for dealing with this for long he chose to end it.

Sakon felt invigorated at the chakra used to reform himself until he noticed something wrong. Red chakra began to bubble up from where he was fused and it began to burn him.

Naruto channeled his demonic chakra towards where Sakon was in order to expunge him.

Sakon began to panic as the chakra began to eat at him. "Shit what the hell is this?" he would have stayed fused but he realized that he was no longer healing. "Whatever the fuck this is I can't handle it!" he began to pull himself out of the fox but was halted as one of the paws lifted up and wrapped around his head

Naruto gripped hard on Sakon's head as he continued to channel chakra into the parasite. He began to squeeze the head harder until he heard the skull begin to crack.

"Argh AAAAHHHHH Let go of me, you stupid Kyuubi wannabe!"

Naruto gained a tick mark on his head as he heard this. He wasn't the only one that was ticked

**"****A wannabe eh!? My kit has the makings of becoming like me! Incinerate him kit! And show him how much of a 'wannabe' you are!"**

Naruto gave a toothy smirk as he pulled hard at Sakon before ripping the parasite out of him. He looked at Sakon and saw that all that was left of him was one arm and half of the torso.

Sakon felt some relief that he was no longer dealing with the burning chakra but he felt his life being drained since there wasn't much left of him. He peeked between two of the fox's finger to look at its face and felt fear at the slitted blue eyes that bore into his minuscule soul.

Naruto smiled "you parasites need to stop sponging off me." he tossed Sakon away before he and his clones took a deep breath. Gathering the chakra they needed, the three lew out a torrent of fire at Sakon.

Sakon's eyes widened when he saw the wall of flames coming closer "aaah AAAAHHHHHH!"

Everyone just stood there gobsmacked at what Naruto just did. They knew he was strong but they sometimes forget how strong. They were brought out of their awe when Naruo spoke again

"Ew ew ew EW EW EEEWWWW! I feel gross now that he is out of me. Ugh!" Naruto ran towards the river and jumped in as his clones dispelled.

Kiba heard the voice and it finally clicked why the fox's scent was familiar. "Wait .….NARUTO!?"

Naruto ignored Kiba since he was at the moment trying to get rid of the tingly feeling he got from the enemy

Kia looked to the rest hoping for some answer but everyone just shook their heads at Nauto's antics.

Kari looked towards Kiba as she moved over to him.

Kiba notice Karin coming closer and would have asked what it was she wanted but he stopped when Karin shoved her arm in front of his face

"Bite and suck." she knew already that Nauto would ask her to heal him so she chose to just get it over with

Kiba blushed at what she just said. He looked to everyone for an answer on what he should do but it looked like everyone was just dawdling at the moment. However, when his gaze landed on Temari, he could see something her eyes. He didn't know what it was but he swore he saw something similar in his mother's eyes when he did something wrong.

Karin was growing impatient so she slapped him upside the head with her free hand "hurry up! Or do you want to stay injured?!"

Kiba then remembered what she did to Lee during the Chunin exams and just did as she said.

Temari didn't know why but what Kiba was doing made her eye twitch. It was made even worse when the redhead started to moan erotically.

"Ahn~ mmmnn~"

Kiba felt a trickle of blood come out of his nose at the sounds. 'What the hell!' he didn't get a chance to think anymore when he was hit on top of the head

Temari brought her smoking fist back "that's enough of that."

Kiba was now sitting on the ground holding his head in pain "ow! what the hell was that for!?"

"For being a pervert."

"What!? She told me to do that."

"And why would you listen to her?"

"She told me to."

Temari quirked an eyebrow "oh and if I told you to jump off a cliff would you?"

"Hell no!"

Everyone else that was listening to the conversation couldn't help but think one thing

'Naruto would'

They all heard the splashing stop and looked at the now sopping wet fox making his way toward them

Naruto stopped in front of them before speaking "that felt weird." he then shook himself, spraying everyone with water

"Hey!"

"Naruto!"

"Dude stop!"

"Aw man stop."

Naruto finally stopped and looked to his friend only to sheepishly smile at the now dripping wet group as they glared at him. "Eh heh….sorry."

Everyone began to dry themselves off after they stopped glaring at Naruto

Kiba was staring at Naruto when he finished and was trying to figure out what he was looking at. Before he could say anything though, Naruto beat m to it

"We should get moving now if we want to catch up with Shikamaru and Lee"

This caught Kiba, Choji, and Neji by surprise.

Neji then thought about it for a second until he sighed and shook his head "this is the kind of thing that Lee-san would do."

Karin felt her anger grow when she remembered finding his room empty and a note saying 'off to save my youthful friends'.

Temar smiled as she moved forward "well the lazy bum should be getting help himself." she looked towards the group "how many of them have you taken out?"

Neji looked at the group before answering "including the one Naruto had just defeated, three."

Kiba brought his hand up as he said "actually the guy we fought was two so, I took out one and Naruto destroyed the other.."

Temari smirked at Kiba before she said "more like the one that I beat since you weren't able to finish him off."

Kiba would have said something but he stopped and thought about it. He realized that he wasn't the one that beat them. He slumped and grumbled at how unfair it was that he didn't get to beat his opponent.

Naruto stifled his laughter at the grumbling Inuzuka before he stopped and summoned three clones. "Alright, everyone! Let's get moving!"

Everyone besides Kiba, Akamaru, and Temari began to protest about riding him again but Naruto chose to ignore them.

Akamaru jumped into Kiba's jacket as he and Temari jumped on top of one of the clones, with Temari in the front and Kiba in the back

Temari glared back at Kiba as she growled out "touch anything and you lose your hands."

Kiba really felt the need to just get off so he could run alongside the group but he was already on the clone so he gingerly wrapped his hands around her stomach and prayed that he wouldn't lose anything from this.

Naruto and his clones saw that everyone else, other than Hinata, were stubbornly refusing to ride on his back so they made the decision.

"Release me Naruto!"

"Put me down Naruto or you're going to get it!"

"Naruto, at least go slow so I won't lose my lunch again."

"Put me down right now!"

Naruto picked everyone up with his tails. "Well let's get going." he then began to run to the other side of the ravine and then up the wall. While ignoring the screams of his friends.

* * *

After forcing everyone on his back again, Naruto and the group had continued through the forest towards their next destination. Naruto continued to follow the scent of his friends but he suddenly began to slow down before coming to a stop.

Ino looked down at Naruto from behind Hinata to ask what they all wanted to know "Naruto why'd you stop?"

Naruto sniffed the air for a bit before speaking "I caught Lee's scent."

Temari quirked an eyebrow at this "you mean the spandex-wearing guy. What's the problem if he is out here to help?"

"It's in a different direction than Shikamaru's" Naruto sniffed the air again before he pointed straight ahead "Lee's scent is in that direction…." he then turned his attention directly to the left "...And Shikamau's scent is coming from over there."

Ino looked between the two directions "so which way should we go?"

Karin had no problem deciding "if Lee is in that direction….!" she pointed straight ahead "then I am going that way!"

Naruto was about to say something but he caught a few new scents as well….from both directions "Shikamaru isn't alone. There is someone else with him. A few actually. Same with Lee but I only smell two"

Kiba and Akamaru sniffed the air as well "he's right. There are five others with Shikamaru actually. One of them smells like the sand, wood and…..makeup?" he looked towards Temari who was trying to stifle a laugh

"That would be my brother Kankuro. He's most likely helping out that lazy bum."

Neji narrowed his eyes "still the odds are against them. We should split up here. One group goes to help out Shikamaru while the other helps out Lee."

Naruto nodded "so who goes to who?"

Choji brought up his fist "I'm going to help out Shikamaru!"

Karin crossed her arms as she humphed "I'm going to go kill Lee."

Temari looked in the direction of Shikamaru "I should help my brother out."

Hinata and Ino were unsure where they should go.

Nauto thought about the people that he was with and came up with a game plan "Ino, Choji, Temari, and Hinata will go help Shikamaru out. Neji, Karin, Kiba, Akamaru, and I will go help out Lee."

Neji looked at Naruto impressed at the smart decision he made.

Choji was happy to help out his friend but he had to ask "why set us up that way?"

"You, Ino, and Shikamaru are a team already. You three will work best together. Temari goes cause she most likely knows how to fight alongside her brother. Hinata because she can disable the opponent if she is given a chance." Naruto then gestured to the others with his finger "Neji will go to help Lee for the same reason as Ino and Choji helping Shikamaru out. He can do the same to Lee's opponent as Hinata can to Shikamaru's enemy. Karin cause she would go even if I told her not to. Kiba and Akamaru cause they can be the front line fighters that can help out Neji in case it needs to be a taijutsu fight. I'm going to make sure that each side has a Chunin with them….and to help them out in case they need it."

Everyone was impressed with the logic of this. Naruto may not be book smart much but when it comes to how a fight should go, he knows what he is talking about.

Naruto looked at Ino and asked "Ino, you still have that scroll I gave you?"

Ino nodded as she pulled the scroll from her pouch and gave it to him.

Naruto took the scroll and handed it to Karin since she had a pouch that was big enough to hold on to it.

Everyone changed positions and went towards their assigned target

* * *

~Shikamaru~

Shikamaru was really hating his chances right now. He couldn't get close to his opponent, he isn't given time to think up a plan and the three summons that she has have more strength than he could ever think of overpowering. Not only that but the summons were releasing a smoke-like creature out of their mouths that seemed to eat chakra if one of the several mouths on it catches what they are after 'Troublesome. Why couldn't someone be given this role? I wish I could just go home and watch the clouds.' he was brought out of his thoughts as he had to jump to another tree, hidden by the shadows since the summons were closing in on his position. He peeked from around the tree he landed on to see how far away he was from Tayuya. 'Damn it! I'm being further and further away. I need to get close enough to use my jutsu but if she sees me then she will have one of them come at me from behind.' he tried to think of something but knew that he needed more space between him and the others. Jumping to the side to circle around Tayuya. Finding a solid branch a good distance between him and the others he knelt down and checked his supplies before getting into his infamous thinking pose.

Tayuya was keeping a wary eye on any movement from within the forest. She kept playing her flute as she thought 'he can't stay out there for long. Sooner or later he is going to have to come at me but with my summons out, he won't be able to do anything.' she then looked towards her summons 'I better bring them in. if he is able to get close enough then they would become useless.' she played a different tune that brought her summons closer to her. Once the three surrounded her she went back to looking in the forest 'now…...where are you?'

A kunai from her left was her answer.

The clawed summon blocked it as she narrowed her eyes 'there you are!' she sent her club wielder towards the directions and smashed a tree that she thought could have hidden him. She then noticed a glint from her right. Four shuriken were thrown at her, which were also blocked by the clawed one. She sent the mummified one with the smoke coming out of its mouth. Not seeing any movement she shifted her eyes around 'show yourself you piece of shit!' she was granted her wish when she saw him land in front of her, tossing a kunai at her. She couldn't help but internally scoff. 'Does he really think he could hit me from that far away?' the clawed one blocked the kunai and Tayuya felt tired of this game so she played her flute again to get the three to change course and charge at the Nara

Shikamaru knelt down and watched as the three summons grew closer. His eyes shifted to behind Tayuya to see a glint

A kunai tied to a branch was pulled back causing strain on the branch. A wire tied in the kunai ring was slightly cut so that it would snap soon. The small cut strained until it finally snapped which caused the branch to snap forward, launching the kunai forward, above Tayuya. The launch of the kunai was too weak to do much if it was aimed at her, most likely it would break the skin but not do much, so the best choice was to aim it for a hanging flash bomb that was above her.

Tayuya smirked as she saw the Nara kneeling and her summons on him. 'Checkmate.' Suddenly her eyes widened when she saw a flash bomb dropping in between her and her summons. The flash bomb went off and she had to cover her eyes from the brightness. When she was able to open them again she saw her summons standing next to the Nara.

"**Shadow possession** complete." Shikamaru stood up straight and smirked "honestly I'm thankful this was such a simple plan. Saves me from using any more of my small supply of equipment."

Tauyua was gritting her teeth as she began to play her flute again to get her summons to attack. She noticed that although she was issuing commands they weren't doing anything

"Don't bother."

Tayuya glared at the Nara as he spoke

"Now that I have them in my shadow possession, they won't do anything other than what I do." he lifted his leg, forcing the three summons to do the same. "Now to end this." jumping off the branch towards Tayuya he lifted his arm, forcing the claw and club summons to do the same, readying to attack her

Tayuya gritted her teeth as she pulled her flute away from her mouth to bring up her free hand and did a single hand sign.

Shikamaru saw what she was doing but knew that he was close enough that it didn't matter. Seeing the three summons burst in a poof of smoke, he brought up his own hand to do another Nara hand sign as he landed right next to Tayuya

Tayuya saw him land and threw a punch, hoping to beat the annoying boy to death. But before her fist could make contact, she found herself frozen in place. She tried to force her way out of whatever had her frozen but she couldn't do anything.

"Shadow strangle complete" Shikamaru got up and smirked at Tayuya.

Tayuya looked down to see his shadow was wrapping around her body. Like hands keeping her in place.

"I'm glad that you actually dispelled your summons since it gave me the chance to get close to you and give me the split second needed in order to capture you."

"F….fuck you!"

Shikamaru smirked as he looked down at the shadow that wrapped around her "honestly, this whole fight was too troublesome. So just let me end it." he brought the shadow hand closest to her neck, to grip around it, choking her.

Tayuya was glaring at the Nara with pure hatred in her eyes. She knew what she had to do but she hated the idea of someone forcing her to do this. She activated her curse mark, moving to the second state.

Shikamaru was stunned to see the transformation happen in front of him but he didn't have long to think about it since he began to focus more on keeping his jutsu up. 'Damn it. What the hell is that transformation?! She is breaking through it with sheer force alone!' although he gave a valiant effort he soon found his jutsu broken and had to jump back to avoid the punch that was aimed at him. His eyes widened when he saw that the punch hit the branch they were on and saw a big chunk of it shatter. "Better not let her hit me."

Tayuya smirked as she saw the fear in the Nara's eyes "better start running cause I'm going to beat the life out of you when I catch you!"

Shikamaru now knew that he was screwed. His jutsu grows stronger the closer he is to his opponent and she was able to break out of it when he was point-blank. "Now what?"

"Now you die!"

Shikamaru's eyes widened when he saw that she was right in front of him with a fist pulled back. "Oh shi…..UGH!" he was sent flying back until his back slammed into the trunk of a tree. He fell to the branch underneath him and began to heave as he tried to regain his breath. 'Damn it! I think she broke three ribs.' he heard feet landing a bit away from him and slowly looked up to see Tayuya grinning down at him

"You had me for a second there but looks like your luck has run out you little shit."

Shikamaru groaned as he saw her lift up her fist that judging by the angle was going to smash into his head. "Troublesome."

Tayuya brought her fist down, ready to kill him but out of the corner of her eye, she saw a glint of metal heading her way. Just before she could hit the Nara, she had to jump out of the way. Unfortunately, she did not look at where she leapt and soon found herself wrapped up in a hug by what felt like wood. "What the fuck?!" turning her head she saw the face of….a puppet.

Shikamaru groaned as his face was against the bark of the branch. He was waiting for the hit but to his surprise, all he heard was the thunks of something hitting just in front of him.

"Damn you look like shit."

Lifting his head, he was surprised to see the catsuit wearing Suna shinobi that he saw at the Chunin exams. "What….are you doing here."

Kankuro smiled as he looked back at Shikamaru "your Hokage felt that you might need some help on this mission so she sent out a message to Suna for us to come to your aid."

Shikamaru slowly began to get to his feet as he held his side 'Lady Hokage…...thanks for the save.' He looked towards the struggling female and spoke "be careful with her. She transformed into that and gained a big boost in strength. She uses her flute to cast genjutsu and has three summons that are controlled by the very same flute."

Kankuro looked towards Tayuya and saw that through her struggling, she was causing cracks to the puppet's arms. 'Damn. not good. If she breaks Crow's arms then a lot of his traps will be useless.' he then saw that in one of her hands she was holding a flute tightly. "Well if that flute is so valuable to her then we should confiscate it." twitching his finger, he commanded Crow to lower one of its hands to grip onto the flute.

Tayuya felt the shift in the puppet's grip and using all her strength, she broke the arms off of the puppet before spinning around and kicking it away. After she was free she noticed the lack of something in her hand. She saw that she no longer had her flute. She began to panic at the lack of her weapon and began to look around for it. Unfortunately, she had to jump away from a few thrown kunai.

Shikamaru felt his odds increase as Tayuya no longer had her genjutsu weapon. Unfortunately, he himself was at a disadvantage since he was running low on chakra and the pain in his chest would hinder him greatly. "Don't let her get her flute. And be careful of her strength."

Kankuro nodded as he twitched his fingers. Random pieces of his shattered puppet began to move in the air with some of the arms bending open to reveal compartments that shot out a swarm of kunai at Tayuya

Tayuya was really wanting to kill the two she was now fighting but at the moment she needed to find her flute. Even if she is stronger in the second state but most if not all of her best moves required that flute. After she dodged another set of kunai she turned her gaze towards her opponents and her eyes widened.

Kanjura twitched his index finger, calling back one of his puppet's arms and caught it.

In the puppet's hand was the flute.

Kankuro grabbed the flute and looked it over "looks like an ordinary flute to me. What's so special about it?"

Shikamaru walked up to Kankuro and stretched out his hand which caused Kankuro to hand the flute over. Shikamaru looked it over and noticed something about it. "It's heavier than what a wooden flute should feel like. It might have some special material that gives it special properties or maybe just to make it usable for a weapon." from the corner of his eye he saw Tayuya giving him a glare that looked like they were about to unleash a high powered fire jutsu. "Uh oh."

Tayuya was seeing red. They had her flute and she was not going to allow them to see the next day. In anger, she jumped towards them. Pulling out a kunai she deflected the ones that were sent her way from another of the puppet's arms. She knew that puppet users were terrible at close range and the shadow user was wounded already. 'Get in close and murder them!'

Shikamaru and Kankuro both jumped back to another branch to get some distance but the next thing that happened caused them to widen their eyes

**"****Partial Expansion Jutsu!"**

Tayuya was blindsided by a massive fist that sent her flying.

Both Shikamaru and Kankuro felt relief at the new arrivals with Shikamaru shouting out in surprise "Choji!"

Kankuro used this time to unseal his second puppet "black ant."

Tayuya groaned as she got to her feet since that hit was strong enough to make her see stars. "Little pissant. When I get my hands on you….." she didn't have the chance to continue her thoughts since she felt something large constrict her. She looked down to see a large hand holding her in place. Looking up she saw that it was the fat kid that Jirobo was supposed to kill. 'Fat ass couldn't even kill him.' she began to use her strength to break free but she felt the familiar feeling of being paralyzed.

Shikamaru was kneeling next to Choji in his clan's special jutsu pose. He saw Ino begin to bring her hands up but before he could stop her someone beat him to it

"Ino don't!"

Shikamaru recognized that voice but he couldn't see where the person was. But when he heard the voice again he was shocked to see it was coming from one of the foxes they group rode on

"Ino we don't know what that curse mark does to the person. For all we know, it could counter your jutsu and you would be helpless until your mind returns." the fox walked up next to her and whispered, "and I don't want you anywhere near that foul chakra coming from her."

Shikamaru shook his head. He would have to deal with this later but right now they still have to deal with this. He looked at the newcomers again and his eyes landed on Hinata "Hinata, can you shut off her chakra points?"

Hinata nodded as she got into her stance

Shikamaru whispered out to Choji "release her on my mark."

Choji nodded

Shikamaru looked to Hinata before shouting "go!"

Hinata lunged towards the captured Oto nin, ready to strike the necessary points.

Shikamaru waited until Hinata was close enough before giving the order to Choji to let go. He focused his last bit of chakra into his Shadow possession to keep her still but it was enough

Tayuya felt the hand let her go and move away. She saw the Hyuga coming her way and began to force her way out of the possession. She was able to break out of it but it was too late. She felt the jabs on her body. She could feel her chakra begin to flux a bit before being blocked. She could feel her power being drained away with every hit.

Hinata struck all of the chakra points on her body and finished it up with a palm strike in her chest that sent her flying back.

Tayuya flew through the air feeling like she was hit with a sledgehammer.

She would have kept flying until she hit a tree but much to everyone's shock she flew into the large open compartment of Kankuro's puppet. Once she was inside the compartment closed up on her now unconscious form.

Kankuro smirked as he saw this happen and was about to finish the job until Shikamaru spoke

"Hold her there."

Kankuro looked to him with confusion evident on his face

"We just captured an enemy nin. We can take her back to the village and interrogate her." he looked towards Hinata "how long do you suppose she will be out?"

Hinata thought about it for a bit before answering "I blocked all her points so, at the minimum, she should be unconscious for about a day."

Shikamaru sighed as he fell on his ass "good. This whole thing is so troublesome." he then looked towards the group of large foxes that sat next to Ino. "thanks for getting them here so quickly Naruto."

The fox in the center chuckled sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head "figured it out already huh."

"Your voice was a dead give away."

Hinata moved over to stand next to Ino as she placed a hand on the fox

Shikamaru's mind was going a few miles a second trying to figure out the scene in front of him but he soon found it too troublesome to think about. He slowly got up as he held his ribs "well we should start heading back to the village with our prisoner."

The lead Naruto clone shook his head "not yet. Lee still needs help. He is further ahead fighting someone else with that foul smell."

Shikamaru looked shocked at what he heard "wait, Lee! What's he doing out here?! Wait did you say he is fighting someone else like the others?"

The Naruto clones nodded their heads

Shikamaru grit his teeth. "He must be fighting that bone guy."

Temari looked at him confusingly "bone guy?"

Shikamaru nodded "yeah. I ran into him when that girl…" he pointed at the puppet that held Tayuya "had to stop when I blocked her path. He came in and took the crate that was carrying Sasuke." he reached into his weapons pouch and pulled out a white knife "the guy lifted his palm and shot out several of these things at me to make sure I didn't follow him. I picked one up and quickly realized it was made out of bone. Not sure if it was a mechanism or Kekkei-Genkai but from the look in his eyes, I could tell he wasn't someone to mess with."

Naruto felt some more nervousness about his friend, especially since Lee just got out of the hospital. "We should go help him as fast as possible."

Temari looked about ready to laugh as she spoke "you don't have to worry about him foxy."

Naruto would have said something but he remembered the other scent he caught in the direction of Lee and the so-called "bone guy". "Ah right. He should be fine even without our help."

Everyone, besides Temari and Kankuro, looked at him in confusion with Ino being the one to ask the question.

"How do you know that?"

Naruto gave a toothy grin "because Lee has Suna on his side."

* * *

~open field~

Gaara had turned the entire open field into a miniature desert in an attempt at killing the Oto-nin. Gaara was thrusting his hand forward and grasping the air. This action caused the sand in the field to try and capture the oncoming nin that had transformed into a monster. Gaara saw that this tactic wasn't going to work since he kept getting closer so using the sand that was underneath both Lee and him to levitate in the air out of the Oto's reach.

Kimimaro saw that the two were flying in the air and brought his hands up to shoot out small pieces of bone in the air to try and shoot them down

Gaara used his sand to block the oncoming projectiles and stay out of reach as he tried to think of a plan to end this fight. "He is tenacious."

Lee nodded his head as he looked down the side of the sand platform at Kimimaro. "That he is. Is there a way for us to stop him? He seems to be able to handle anything we throw at him."

Gaara was at a bit of a loss at this. He had used his strongest attack, the Sand Tsunami, to bury the man and crush him under immense pressure but to his amazement, it failed. He was brought out of his thoughts when he saw a long spear, heading their way. Condensing the sand underneath them, he made sure that the spear could only penetrate a few inches.

Kimimaro was gritting his teeth as he felt his time running out. He needed to bring them down so he decided to just widdle the platform down. Lifting his hands, he began to barrage the platform itself with rapid-fire out of his fingers.

Gaara could feel that some of his sand was falling back down to earth. If this kept going then he would need to lower the platform to either regain the sand lost or go on the offensive. He thought about what he could do when he remembered his battle with Naruto. His mind locked on to one of the attacks that were used on him and felt like it might be possible for him with all the sand he had at the moment. He looked down at Lee with a plan in his mind "Lee-san, I need your help for this next attack."

Lee looked up with surprise as this was the last thing he expected to hear from the Suna nin. Shaking off his shock he nodded "if I am able to assist then I shall do it."

Gaara nodded as he conveyed his plan.

Kimimaro saw that the platform was lowering itself at a fast pace. He kept up his barrage, not caring if he was overusing his Kekkei Genkai. He paused for a second when he saw the green spandex wearing one jumped off the platform and charged at him. He began to shoot at him but his projectiles kept on being dodged.

Lee was straining to keep up his speed and was glad that he had healed enough to not worry that much. He dodged another set of bone projectiles. 'Need to be closer!' he continued gaining on Kimimaro until he knew he was close enough. Without stopping he turned to his right and began running around the bone monster.

Kimimaro kept firing at the boy but his speed kept him from being hit. He was confused with the tactic since the boy wasn't attacking. He kept turning around to keep an eye on the boy to make sure that he was taken by surprise by whatever he was planning. He soon gained his answer when he saw that the sand the boy was picking up from the running began to float and follow the boy. He looked behind him to see the Suna nin with his hands up in the air. He was going to run at the red-head but before he could do anything the spinning sand rose into the air blocking his path.

Gaara used a tendril of sand to pull Lee away from the growing Sand tornado. He remembered the devastation of Naruto's flame tornado and thought of using his own version of it. He however did need Lee to run around the Oto-nin in order to get the sand to start moving since if he tired it alone, the enemy would leave the affected area.

Lee got up from the ground next to Gaara and watched the tornado with aw. "This is just like Naruto's"

Gaara slowly nodded as he kept his focus on his jutsu. He groaned out "yes…..and it requires much concentration to keep this ….going."

Lee just sat back and watched the tornado and wondered what was happening inside

Kimimaro tried to attack the walls of the tornado but the sheer spinning speed caused damage to anything he threw at it. What was worse was that it was starting to become smaller and the smaller it got the more sand would come off at him and cut him up. In desperation, he covered his palms in bone and slammed them onto the wall. He gritted his teeth as the sand began to grind away at not only the bone armor on his hands but also the toughened skin of his second state. "I will not die until I have paid back Orochimaru-sama!" he continued to push against the wall, ignoring the many scrapped off patches of his flesh that was ground off.

Gaara kept narrowing the funnel until it was only a few feet in diameter. He felt himself growing more tired from concentrating so much. When the funnel reached five feet in diameter he finally dropped his arms and sighed.

The sand that made up the tornado fell down into a large pile of sand.

Lee was amazed by the finish of the fight "that was amazing….."

Gaara had a bit of sweat on his brow as he grimaced at what he just felt "...it's not over…"

Lee was about to ask what he meant when he heard something from the pile of sand. His eyes widened when he saw massive spikes of bone began to spring from the pile. He didn't have time to think about it when he felt himself being lifted into the air again by a platform of sand. While going up he saw that more spikes began to spring up from the very ground. The field that was once filled with grass before it became a desert had now become a forest of bone. Lee stunned at the sight before him. "He still had this much strength?"

Gaara looked around at the bone forest, looking for his opponent but could not see any movement. Lowering them to a thick bone, he landed on it and continued to look around for any sign of Kimimaro. "He hasn't given up yet. I find his drive admirable."

Lee could not help but agree. The will to keep going even after all the damage the nin has gone through is nothing less than remarkable. "I agree…..but I also find it sad. To drive oneself to such a degree for someone such as Orochimaru."

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW!"

Both Gaara and Lee's eyes grew wide when they heard the shout come from right behind them. Turning around they saw the top half of Kimamaro coming out of the very trunk of the bone tree.

The skin on Kimimaro's face was half gone, replaced by a membrane of bone. The left arm was deprived of skin and muscle, leaving only bone that seemed to be attached together by what looked like malleable bone connections. The left side of his torso was missing chunks of skin and muscle, showing the left side of the ribcage that looked like a membrane of bone was created to keep his organs from leaving his form. His right arm was enveloped in a large bone spear, aiming to skewer them.

"SOMEONE LIKE YOU COULD NEVER UNDERSTAND WHAT I OWE OROCHIMARU-SAMA!" Kimimaro thrusted his spear arm at them ready to end them.

Both Gaara and Lee closed their eyes waiting for the strike. But instead of the sound of flesh being pierced and pain in their body, they heard something else.

***BAM***

Both opened their eyes to see a fist slamming into the right side of Kimimaro's face.

Being fused into the bone tree, said portion of tree exploded with Kimimaro being sent flying through a few other trees until he slammed hard on one.

Gaara and Lee saw a large fox land next to them with Neji and Karin on top of them before another fox landed with Kiba and Akamaru.

Lee was speechless at the sight but had a fire in his eyes at how "youthful" their arrival was.

Gaara, on the other hand, gave a small smile at them. "It is good to see you again."

Naruto looked towards Gaara and gave his own smile "same here Gaara-san. Glad to see you on our side this time." Naruto would have continued the pleasantries but he felt malice aimed at them. He turned his head towards where he sent that Oto-nin flying to see him getting up. Naruto couldn't help but grimace a bit at the sight.

One leg was nothing but bone that was amazingly still moving despite very little skin and muscle barely hanging on it. What he assumed would be a tail seemed only to be an extended spine.

Naruto could see that the guy was only alive through desperation and his amazing ability mixed in with the curse mark. "Neji, Karin…..get off."

Both said shinobi got off and watched as Naruto moved to meet the Oto-nin

Naruto launched himself towards Kimimaro who did the same to him. Both met each other in the air but Naruto had more force in his jump so he forced Kimimaro back until he was pinned back on another bone tree.

Kimimaru glared at the fox that pinned him back. Seeing a paw pressing against his throat, he sent out a bone to pierce through it. Much to his shock, the fox didn't do anything other than grimace a bit

Naruto saw the bone pierce his paw but knew that if he let go, this nin would have a chance to attack. He didn't have the time or the energy to waste so he knew he needed to finish this quick. He moved his body while pulling Kimimaro to dangle by his grip. Naruto then threw the Oto-nin into the air before he took a deep breath.

Kimimaru righted himself in the air and sent a barrage of finger projectiles at the fox.

Naruto did not move since he needed to finish this so he was hit with the projectiles, he could feel them puncture his body but he didn't care. He let loose his flames

Kimimaro thought that either the attack would cause the fox to either stop the attack or cause the fox to cancel it to avoid the projectiles. Sadly neither were the case as a large wall of fire was heading his way. He could feel the heat from the fire and knew that it was hot enough to turn him into ashes. Even with his Kekkei Genkai, he was too tired and wounded to survive this time. Closing his eyes he let the fire take him.

Everyone watched as Kimimaro evaporated in the flames with Gaara and Lee finally feeling relief that this fight was over.

"Aah!" Lee jumped a bit when the fox that fought Kimimaro landed in front of him.

Naruto looked everyone over, making sure that they were all ok. Once he was sure that they were he took a deep breath before gritting his teeth in pain.

Everyone watched as Naruto began to force out tiny bone fragments from his body and then dropping to the floor.

Once Naruto was sure that the fragments were out he sat down and took a few deep breaths "ok that stung."

Lee was shocked to hear that voice. He heard it when Gaara spoke to it but now that he heard it again, he recognized it. "Naruto!"

Naruto grinned at Lee "hey Lee. nice to see you in one piece…..for now."

Lee was confused at what is ...fox friend meant but he got his answer when he felt KI aimed right at him and a hand landed on his shoulder.

"LEE~~~~~~"

Lee robotically turned his head to see a dark silhouette with a murky red aura and shining yellow eyes. A wide smile appeared on the silhouette before he spoke. "K-k-k-k-k-k-Karin-ch-ch-ch-chan! N-n-n-nice t-t-t-to see y-y-y-you…"

Karin's smile widened to ridiculous proportions "oh really. I'm happy to see you too. Especially fresh out of the hospital."

Lee looked to the others only to see that they all backed away from him. He reached out to them as he squeaked out "...help."

The rest of them just stood there and watched as Lee got his ass kicked. Well, they tried to watch anyway. For some odd reason, a cloud of smoke obstructed their view but they could still hear the screams of pain coming from it. They witnessed Lee crawl out of the cloud until chains came out, wrapped around his neck and torso, and dragged him back in to continue the punishment.

Naruto shook his head before he walked up to the cloud. "Hey, Karin!"

The beating stopped for a second and the cloud dissipated to show the second Uzumaki holding a now beaten up Lee in her grasp.

Karin looked to Naruto with a glare and asked "what?"

Naruto stretched out his paw "I need that scroll now."

Karin reached into her pouch before grabbing said scroll and tossing it to Naruto. Once that was done she went back to beating some sense into the whimpering boy.

Naruto dispelled his clone before jumping to another bone tree and hiding behind one of them.

Kiba was confused by what Naruto was doing and voiced his question.

Everyone shrugged their shoulders and went back to watching Lee get massacred.

A few minutes passed until Naruto came back to the others, clipping on his bracers "so what'd I miss?"

Everyone was sitting on the ground before Kiba spoke up "nothing much. Lee screamed like ten more times."

*arf*

"Sorry…..twelve times."

Naruto laughed at this before he caught the scent of Ino and Hinata, which meant that they were almost there. He caught sight of them on ground level at the edge of the bone forest. "Oh good." he dispelled the clones from them and regained the chakra from them and felt better than before. "Now there is one last thing to do."

Everyone was confused about what he said but sat there and watched him shout out to Karin.

"Hey, Karin-chan! Make sure that you heal the other after you finish with Lee"

The cloud continued but everyone heard her shout out "fine!"

Naruto nodded before he raised his nose in the air and caught the scent he wanted. Finding the direction it was coming from he looked to the others "rest up everyone. I'll finish this mission and catch up with you."

Before anyone could say anything Naruto began to jump away at high speeds just in time for Shikamaru's group to land next to them with Temari joining her brother and Kankuro putting "Black Ant" down gently to not wake up their prisoner.

Shikamaru caught a glimpse of Naruto leaving and turned to Neji "where's he going?"

"He said he was going to finish this mission…."

Ino was the one to speak up here "so he is going to bring back Sasuke?"

Shikamaru turned to Ino and grew worried "damn troublesome blonde. Let's go after him." as he took a step to leave he gripped his ribs in pain which did not go unnoticed by anyone, including Karin.

Karin finished punishing Lee and went to heal the others as she sighed out "I'm always making sure you guys don't keel over."

* * *

~with Naruto~

Naruto made it out of the bone forest and into the actual forest, following the scent of Sasuke. He left everyone behind so they could rest as they all fought tough opponents so they deserve a break. Sure he helped out a bit but they did most of the work. He pushed himself to run faster since he wanted to finish this mission and go home. He still hasn't had his mission-accomplished Ramen from his last mission. Coming out of the forest, he saw a large boulder in front of him which he chose to jump on top of. Once he made it to the top he saw the one he was looking for on the other side of a ravine on top of a large statue.

"SASUKE!"

Sasuke stopped walking and stood there for a minute before slowly turning around to see the one that called him

"So it's you, Dobe."

Standing on top of the statue of Madara Uchiha was Sasuke Uchiha. And on top of Hashirama Senju was Naruto Uzumaki. Distant relatives by blood but closer descendants of the sage. Both are about to clash for the first time in this cycle.

* * *

End of Chapter

The poll is now closed

Sorry for the wait but this chapter just wouldn't let itself be written. Wrote some of it then scrapped it since I didn't like it then did it again and in the end, I might come back and rework some of it.

I believe this is the third-longest chapter in this story.

I hope you guys enjoyed the fights and that I didn't get anything wrong. Had to rewatch the fights to understand some of the sound nin's abilities and now that I rewatched them. The fights were mostly talking and explanation of things or flashbacks.

Next chapter, the long-awaited fight. Hope you look forward to it

Also to all readers, check out my other stories I have written…...no seriously check them out. Like go to my account and check them out T-T. None of them get the attention this one gets and it hurts my writer's soul *sob*. Anyway, jokes aside, check them out, who knows you might like them, you might hate them but you never know until you read them.

Please Read, Favorite, follow, and review


	50. Battle at the Valley of the End

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

**"****Demon/Summon speech"**

**'****Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts' **

"****Jutsu name****"

(author comment)

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Beta read by: not yet beta'd

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

**Reviews Corner**

Otakumode: glad you like the dynamic between Temari and Kiba. was kinda worried that I wouldn't get it right. Well Sasuke is about to find out

Autobot-Wolfsketch: well they found out about it but they don't know the story, I have something planned for it so look forward to it

Asgeir Skjaldberg: thank you for that. I'll be getting back to that one soon.

DragoonSensei: glad I made the fights enjoyable. And you're welcome

Dragon Man 180: glad you caught up. Yeah, I kinda felt bad for Kiba but it is how it is. Yeah had to come up with something for her but her survival has a benefit. Just wait to see what it could be.

Voltblaze0522: thank you for that, but favorite the ones you actually like. If you actually like it than I did something right if not then I did something wrong.

* * *

Chapter50: Battle at the Valley of the End

Kakashi was running through the forest following his personal summon Pakkun, who was following the scent of the rookies. He was going at top speed in order to reach them before something happened. After running for a bit of time he ran into something that he wasn't really expecting. A forest made of a white stone-like substance. Both him and Pakkunj stooped at the edge of it as Kakashi pressed a hand on one of them. He instantly recognized what it was. "Bone?" he didn't have time to think about it much when Pakkun spoke.

"Kakashi up there."

Kakashi looked down at Pakkun to see he was pointing a paw upwards. Following the path of where he was pointing, he saw a few people on one of the high branches of one of the bone constructs. He jumped up to where they were and saw that it was the retrieval team as well as the extras that followed after them. "Well nice to see you all here."

Everyone jumped when they heard a new voice and turned around to see it was Kakashi and Pakkun.

Shikamaru was the one to speak "Kakashi-san what are you doing here?"

Kakashi eyed smiled as he pointed to Ino, Hinata, and Karin "I came to make sure that no problems came up with these unauthorized extras. Although I am impressed that they were able to catch up to you so quickly since they had a few days head start on you three."

Choji perked up at this and began to speak "you can thank Naru...mmmphh!"

Ino had slapped her hand over Choji's mouth to make sure he didn't say anything about Naruto giving them a ride. 'I don't know if Kakashi knows about Naruto being here with us but I am not taking any chances.'

Kakashi did notice the slip about Naruto and wondered how he actually helped them get here faster. 'Maybe he gave them a ride on his back heh heh.' he had no clue how close to the truth he was at that moment. He then noticed the lack of said person. "Where's Naruto?"

Ino mentally cursed 'damn it.'

Shikamaru pointed into a direction as he spoke "he went after Sasuke. He left before we could get here."

Kakashi nodded his head at this before looking behind him and eye-smiled "well it's good to know you can at least try to keep up."

Ino looked to where he was looking and saw a pair of new arrivals "Forehead?!"

Sakura landed right behind Kakashi and had her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. Behind her was Haku making sure that she was ok. She would admit that training with Haku had helped her out a lot but she was still lacking when it comes to stamina. "Hey …..pig."

Ino put her hands on her hips as she asked "what are you doing here?"

Haku was the one to answer "we have come to help out in any way we can. Kakashi-san had just arrived from a mission some time ago and in the process of leaving the village, he came across us and informed us about the situation. We offered our services and he accepted as he said it would help make things go smoother."

Pakkun took a sniff in the air and chose to speak up. "Don't want to rush things but I smell rain coming. If we don't hurry, we could lose their scent."

Kakashi looked to Pakkun and nodded "then let's move." before he could begin to move out he was stopped for a second by Neji

"We are coming with you."

Kakashi looked to everyone there and could see that they were all in the same boat with this decision. He would have told them to go back to the village and let him handle it but they looked like they would not abandon their friend. 'Their will of fire burns brightly…..Guy must never know I thought anything REMOTELY close to his youth montage.' he nodded to everyone and they began to jump at high speeds towards Naruto and Sasuke.

* * *

~Valley of the End~

Naruto glared at Sasuke for multiple reasons. One of which was the foul chakra he could feel coming off f the Uchiha. It was also clearly visible since half of his face had black flame-like markings that seemed to bleed into his left eye, changing its color from the onyx black to a sickening yellow much like Orochimaru's. However, the main reason Naruto was glaring at Sasuke was that he was betraying his home. Now Naruto had no real attachment to the village itself, heck if he wanted he could leave the village and never come back but the people he cared for the most lived there and they are what anchored him to it. They are what made him call the village home and this Uchiha was spitting on it by going to one of the biggest traitors that came out of it. His glared grew when he looked to the boy's forehead.

"So why are you here dobe?"

Naruto shifted his gaze back to the Uchiha's eyes and clenched his fist when he registered the question "you abandon the village to go to that snake that caused us so much trouble, a team is sent after you and you ask why I'm here?" Naruto took a deep breath before smirking "honestly….I'm just here to kick your ass."

Sasuke gave a cocky smirk when he heard this "I'd like to see you try."

Naruto glared at him before sighing "you still don't get it, do you?" he flexed his hand, allowing his claws to come out.

Sasuke tensed his muscles as he activated his Sharingan. "And what don't I get?"

Naruto crouched into a very low stance with his hands on the ground.

A drop of water fell from the sky between both boys

Sasuke got into a stance, readying himself for the fight

"...you aren't that strong."

The drop of water landed in the water at the top of the waterfall and as if that was the cue, both boys charged at each other.

* * *

~Naruto vs Sasuke, choose your music~

Naruto dodged the fist that was aimed for his face and ducked low to send a hard fist into the Uchiha's solar plexus.

Sasuke felt the air leave his lungs but he would not let this stop him. Gritting his teeth he brought up a knee and hit Naruto in the face which was strong enough to get the blonde off his feet

Naruto used the momentum of the kick to flip in the air and brought his foot up hitting Sasuke in the chin and sending him into the air.

Both boys were sent back and spun in the air before landing on their feet

Sasuke used his right wrist to wipe the blood dripping from his mouth

Naruto rubbed his nose as it was sore but not broken. He could feel his healing factor already dulling the pain

**"****You've drawn first blood! Destroy this arrogant little shit and rid the world of another Uchiha!"**

'Tou-chan! You have that masked Uchiha to hate. This one is mine.'

**"****Fine but you better end him, kit."**

Naruto rolled his eyes. He knew his father hated Uchihas and he himself wasn't really fond of them either but this was his fight. He charged at Sasuke and delivered a kick that should have sent the boy flying but to his shock all it did was cause him to skid the water a bot.

Sasuke felt his arms numb a bit from the kick but was able to push through it. When he stopped skidding, he moved forward and caught a still stunned Naruto by surprise as he lowered himself and lifting his leg to start his "Lions Barrage!"

Naruto felt the kick send him upwards and mentally shook himself out of his shock as he then felt another kick on his side. 'His hits are harder.' after the second kick was done he rotated himself in the air and caught the next kick.

Sasuke could see it but he just couldn't believe it and his Hsairngan was memorizing what was happening. Naruto stopped his assault. He then felt himself be pulled forward and saw Naruto send a left hook into his face. It was followed by a spin kick that sent him flying towards the edge of the waterfall. Sasuke saw that he was about to fall off the edge and in a quick motion he pulled out a kunai and ninja wire. With the wire already tied in the loop, he sent the kunai towards Naruto.

Naruto saw the kunai and leaned out of the way but he was confused when he saw a wire attached to it. His confusion was short-lived as he saw Sasuke give a tug at the other end of the wire and the kunai changed direction and the wire began to wrap around him.

Sasuke used all his strength to pull the still airborne Uzumaki towards him causing both of them to fall down to the bottom of the waterfall.

Both boys fell into the water hard causing both to feel a bit disoriented.

Sasuke was the first to break the water surface. Getting up to stand on the water he looked at the wire that was still in his hand. It had wrapped around it and he began to try and undo it. He stopped when an explosion came out of the water just a bit away from him. Looking he saw Naruto land on the water, free from being wrapped up.

Naruto had the wire in his left hand and felt the need to pay Sasuke back. Bring his hand back he yanked the Uchiha towards him. Getting ready he pulled his right fist back and punch Sasuke hard in the face when he was close enough.

Sasuke was sent flying but his flight was cut short when the wire wrapped around his hand forced him to stop abruptly in the air. A loud pop could be heard and he knew that his arm was forcefully dislocated "ARG!" he landed on the water and glared up at Naruto. Slowly getting to his feet he gritted his teeth as he forced his arm back in place. Breathing heavily he looked to the wire still wrapped around his hand. Pulling out a kunai with his free hand he cut the wire and freed it. Noticing that Naruto still had the other end in his hand he thought of something. Grabbing his end he flung it around a bit making sure to get the wrist movement right.

**"****Kit! Let go of the wire!"**

Naruto looked down at his hand in time to see the wire loop around his wrist. "Shit!"

Sasuke spun on his feet and used all his strength to begin swinging Naruto around.

Naruto felt the world begin to spin and not just because he was actually spinning. He pulled himself to the wire and with his claw, he cut the wire from his wrist. Unfortunately, due to the speed, he was sent flying to the other side of the ravine into the wall.

* * *

~top of the ravine~

Kakashi and the rookies arrived at the top of the ravine net to the statue of Hashirama Senju.

Hinata was looking around as she figured that they came to where the two were and was worried about Naruto. "Where is he?"

They all heard an explosion and looked down into the ravine to see something impact into the wall opposite them.

Ino saw that Sasuke was standing in the middle of the river. She quickly deduced that it must have been Naruto that impacted the wall. "There!" she pointed at the dust cloud

Everyone looked towards where she pointed and saw a flash of orange

Kakashi was about to jump in and intervene but was stopped by Neji.

"Hold on. Let them fight."

Kakashi looked at him as if he was insane. "We have to stop this now."

"I'm with Neji on this."

Kakashi turned his gaze towards Shikamaru with the same look.

Shikamaru just sat at the edge "I understand the mission but regardless of what happens down there, it should still end the same." he shifted his eyes to Kakashi "besides I would like to see how this goes really."

Choji plopped down next to Shikamaru with a bag of chips "I'm *munch* surprised that you *munch* are actually interested in this."

Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders as he said "it would just be too troublesome to stop the fight really."

Kiba was grinning at the fight bellow and was internally rooting for Naruto.

The rest of the rookies all either stood or sat down to watch the ongoing fight.

Hinata and Ino sat together watching worriedly for the blonde they cared about.

Kakashi knew he was outvoted at this. He knew his orders but if everyone with him were against him, then he couldn't fight it. He turned his gaze back down in time to see Naruto get out of the dust cloud. He felt a drop of water on his nose and looked up in time to see that it had begun to rain. Although from how everyone was more focused on the fight, he supposed that they didn't care

* * *

~back with Naruto~

Naruto walked out of the crater he made in the wall while dusting himself off. It had hurt hitting the wall but it was a minor pain. He then turned his gaze towards Sasuke who stood there waiting for him. "All that strength and you didn't even earn it."

Sasuke glared at the blonde at the remark. "And what do you mean by that?"

"Your strength is from cheap shortcuts. You've never had to work for anything, you were just given everything you wanted on a silver platter. And from all this, you still call yourself strong!" Naruto bolted forward towards Sasuke while pulling something out of his jacket.

Sasuke was barely able to see Naruto move and he was unable to stop the spinning kicking to the head. He felt something being slapped on his wrists before he felt another kick to the stomach that sent him flying in the same manner Naruto was sent flying. He grunted in pain when his back hit the wall. He gritted his teeth as he shimmied himself out of the body-shaped hole in the wall and fell face-first to the ground. As he shut his eyes from the pain he felt something else being slapped on his ankles. Lifting his head he saw Naruto land in front of him with his arms crossed as if he was superior to him.

"You don't deserve to wear that hitai-ate." Naruto said as he pointed to the Hitai-ate still wrapped around it

In anger, he began to get up…..or at least he tried. He couldn't lift his arms or move his legs. Turning his gaze to his wrists, he saw slips of paper with a sort of seal on them wrapped around them. "What the hell are those!"

"Gravity seals. I use them every day to help me get stronger but look at you. You can't even get up."

Sasuke glared at Naruto. "Damn you Naruto!"

Naruto could feel the hatred coming off of the Uchiha but right now he didn't care about that. He had beaten the arrogant prick. He was about to knock him out but he suddenly felt a spike of the foul feeling chakra. Naruto quickly moved forward to punch Sasuke in the face to knock him out but to his shock, it was blocked…..by a large webbed hand that came out of Sasuke's back. He was forced back when the hand swung around, Naruto landed on his feet and glared at the hand. He was shocked again when he saw Sasuke getting up with a small purple aura around him.

Sasuke slowly got to his feet as he struggled to keep his arms from dropping. "You are strong Naruto but I won't let myself be beaten!" he activated his curse mark, causing his skin to darken into a dark burgundy color, his hair elongating and turning grey, his nails getting slightly longer and sharper, fangs growing from his canines, the white o his eyes becoming black and a black star showing up on his nose in between his eyes. He slowly brought his hands up and ripped off the seals on both of his wrists before he bent down and did the same tot he ones on his ankles.

Naruto couldn't help but scrunch up his nose at the feeling of the chakra coming from Sasuke. He already didn't like the feeling the Sharingan gave him but with the foul chakra powering it, it just felt like he would need a bath when he got home. Naruto chose not to give Sasuke the chance to attack so he charged at him but 3hen he threw a punch

*FOOM*

…it was caught.

Sasuke grinned at the stunned look on Naruto's face but he was internally wincing in pain. Yes, he caught the fist but the force caused his hand to hurt. Bringing his leg up he kicked the blonde away.

Naruto skipped on the water until he stopped himself. He placed a hand on his stomach as he grimaced in pain. "ok ….that one hurt." he heard a ripping sound and looked up in time to see another large webbed hand come out of Sasuke's back. To him, they now looked like a weird set of wings. "Whatever….lets end this." he charged at Sasuke ready to beat him into the ground

Sasuke charged at Naruto and with the increase in speed met the blonde in the middle and began a fierce taijutsu fight. Thanks to the speed boost and the Sharingan he was able to somewhat keep up with Naruto. Unfortunately, he was still being hit after he blocked at least two of them. Not only that he kept getting cuts and gashes from Naruto's claws.

Naruto was surprised by the power boost that Sasuke gained from the transformation. He didn't expect it which is why he was caught off guard by the sudden backhand the forced him back. While taking a few steps back he suddenly felt wire wrap around him. Looking down he saw that he was tied up by wire again

Sasuke didn't know how long the wire would last so he jumped up in the air and performed his hand signs **"****Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!****"**

Naruto channeled chakra into his arms and broke free of the wire. Unfortunately for him, he was fast enough to avoid the fireball

*BOOM*

* * *

~Kakashi and rookies~

"Naruto!" Ino panicked when she saw Naruto be hit by the jutsu. She would have gone down there to help but was stopped by Hinata.

Hinata shook her head "it's alright Ino-chan."

"But….."

"Just watch." Hinata pointed to the fight which everyone looked towards in anticipation

* * *

Sasuke landed next to the fire that was still burning brightly and tried to look through it to see the downed form of Naruto. Much to his surprise, he was suddenly grabbed by the neck by a hand that burst out of the flames.

"I've felt hotter."

Sasuke was sent flying in the air from a hard uppercut

Naruto walked out of the flames as if they were nothing. The only difference was that he had lost his jacket and shirt with his pants showing holes in them from the fire "well there goes all my seal tags. I need to learn some water jutsu." he looked up and was stunned to see Sasuke using the large hand wings to just float in the air while wiping off some blood from his mouth. "Of course he can fly." he said exasperatingly. This made the fight a little harder since Sasuke now had an aerial advantage. "Well might as well try it. It will give me a speed advantage on ground level…..if I can get it right." he created two shadow clones with both jumping to the side to give each other space. "Here we go!"

The three Naruto's began to run on the water towards Sasuke. With each step, they kept lowering their feet until they bearly left the water. Channeling chakra a certain way in their feet they stopped moving their feet altogether and were now gliding on it with the water behind them spraying upwards. In doing this they each gained a massive speed boost and were aiming to finish Sasuke off.

Sasuke lost sight of the three and the only way he could tell where they were, were the large waves that came from their movement on the water. He focused more on one of them to see if he could catch sight of the blonde. He didn't notice that they began to circle him until he found himself in a large waterspout. "Shit!" he remembered Naruto doing something like this during the Chunin exams but with fire instead of water. He didn't know what this was going to do but he didn't want to risk it. He flew to the wall in order to escape. He figured that since it was water instead of fire, the only thing he would need to worry about is the pressure. Unfortunately, as he got closer he was suddenly punched in the face by a clone that came from the wall. Floating back he looked down to see the clone dispel. He tried again on another pat bu was met with the same result. Soon it became a game of dodgeball as Naruto clones began to burst through the water at random angles aiming to hit him

Outside the spout, Naruto was sending clone after clone up the walls of the spout using the same method he used on the water. He would have joined in but he still hasn't perfected this yet as clones would often get up the wall only to be flung off. He noticed that the two clones he had making the spout begin to get weaker so he had to finish this. Creating a clone and dispelling it, he relayed the message. He began to take off his bracers and grieves, letting them sink in the water, before making a normal **Rasengan.**

Sasuke was growing tired of dodging the clones and soon found himself being hit and slashed at. He was thinking of using the **Chidori **but he wasn't given the chance to form the necessary hand signs. He then noticed that the lower part of the spout was free of any clones and decided that it was his only chance. He let his wings go limp and he fell to the ground. On the way down he formed the three handsigns and formed a Chidori which turned black due to the influence of the curse mark. He landed on the water and brought electricity to the wall. He heard the screams of the clones and barely saw the poof of smoke signifying them dispelling. The water began to fall down and he caught sight of the Naruto he knew to be the real one. Once all the water fell, he charged at Naruto, **Chidori **in hand

Naruto saw the charging Uchiha and decided to respond in kind. His blue eye became slit as he knew this would end it.

Both boys aiming to end this fight once and for all with their handheld jutsu.

Everyone watching were on the edge of their seats waiting to see how this ends

Kakashi could only grimace at the idea of his own jutsu being used on Naruto.

Once close enough both Naruto and Sasuke thrusted their jutsu forward…..but they didn't impact each other

The **Rasengan **was a good distance away from hitting Sasuke and the **Chidori **was only inches away from Naruto.

The difference between the two were that Naruto had stopped his Rasengan from moving forwards while Sasuke's Chidori was stopped

Naruto had caught Sasuke by the wrist, stopping the Chidori from impacting.

Sasuke was wide-eyed at this as he was unable to see it coming due to the immense speed. What he did notice was that Naruto's bracers were off

Naruto glared at Sasuke as he held back the electrical attack "I don't feel like gaining a hole in me today." with that said he shoved his Rasengan into Sasuke's stomach.

"gggrrrrrrraaaAAAAAARRRRGHHH"

Sasuke was sent spinning back until he once again found himself buried in the wall of the ravine. But this time he was bleeding profusely, could feel several of his ribs broken, and he no longer had the energy to coughed up some blood as he tried to stop his vision from spinning

Naruto moved to be in front of Sasuke as he spoke "you know, I once thought you and I were the same. You and I lost people we cared about. We both had to be alone because of it and we are both one of the last of our clan. But now that I look back, that was all we had in common." Naruto reached over and grabbed Sasuke by the neck, pulled him out of the wall, and held him in the air. " While you had everyone wanting to be with you, I had to one willing to stand with me. While you got help from teachers and other shinobi to become stronger, I was sabotaged by every instructor to make sure I stayed weak. While you slept safe and sound in a high-class apartment, I had to shiver in cold while fearing for my life in a rundown apartment hoping that I would be attacked again. You go into a store and they lower the price for you by 90%, I go into the store and have the price tripled for rotten or worn-out products. You had the love and praise of the entire village while I had their scorn and hatred! I trained to protect the very few things that are important to me, you trained only for yourself and your own ego. When was the last time you ever cared about anyone but yourself?"

Sasuke could barely breathe from the grip Naruto had on him but he felt the need to answer this "ri...ght...now."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at this and loosened his grip to allow the beaten Uchiha to speak

"I….am going to Orochimaru….to get the strength to….bring my brother home."

Naruto could tell that Sasuke wasn't lying so he let him continue

"My brother….gave up….so much to….protect the village. He is …...in danger…...and he is the last…...family I have. I…..want to bring…..*cough* him home."

Naruto looked into the Uchiha's eyes while trying to ignore the feeling of the Sharingan on hm. He trusted his ability to feel out lies but seeing the sincerity in those desperate eyes just gave him a bit more reassurance. An odd thing that happened was that the two tomoes in Sasuke's eyes became three. "About time you started doing something for someone else."

* * *

Everyone could tell that the fight was over.

Hinata and Ino were happy that Naruto was ok from the fight.

Kiba was in awe as well as being jealous at the amount of power Naruto showed

Shikamaru sighed at how troublesome this whole thing was.

The sand siblings were impressed at how these two fought.

Lee was shouting out how "youthful" this battle was

Choji enjoyed watching the fight while enjoying his bag of chips

Sakura felt jealous at the amount of skill her two teammates had but she felt better when Haku placed a hand on her shoulder.

Neji felt the need to train in order to catch up to Naruto since he was a year older yet he was far behind him

Karin was grumbling to herself as she knew she would need to help these two as well

Kakashi gave a sigh of relief that they stopped and that neither of them were going to kill the other. 'Let's hope Lady Tsunade doesn't chew me out on this.' as he was thinking this he caught sight of movement not far from the two boys. Eye wide he shouted out to the blonde "NARUTO LOOK OUT!"

* * *

Naruto was so focused on the Uchiha that he barely heard the warning. As if suddenly switched on he felt malicious intent aimed at him. Unfortunately, he was unable to react as he felt something pierce him through the heart. Looking down he saw a fingerless gloved hand covered in chakra coming out of it. Slowly turning his head to look over his shoulder he couldn't help but smirk at who it was. "That's a nice look for you….Kabuto."

Kabuto would have smirked if he wasn't forcibly smiling already. The left side of his face looked like it was rotting away with the skin of his mouth gone, showing his teeth underneath. He no longer had an eyelid for his left eye so it was basically just an eyeball that looked like it was blind. Half of his hair was gone since that side of his head had the same look as the rest of his rotting face. His left hand was in a sling as it looked like it was far skinnier than it should be. (think two-face from the Dark Knight). "I have you to thank for that Naruto." he pulled his right hand out of the boy who had let go of Sasuke.

Naruto collapse to the ground, feeling massive strain coming from his entire body.

Sasuke was in shock at seeing Naruto like this. He usually saw the blonde being confident or ridiculously cocky. In al honesty, he didn't really hate the blonde, he just hated the idea that he was weaker than him when he wanted revenge. They weren't friends at all but he never asked for his death really.

Kabuto saw that Kakashi and the rest were coming down towards them so he quickly picked Sasuke up and began to run away from the area. 'Thanks to the delay, lord Orochimaru had to use a stronger body possession on someone else. He won't be able to take over Sasuke for a while but this just gives us the time to make you more worthy of my lord.'

Everyone arrived next to Naruto as Karin began to look him over. No one cared about Kabuto's retreating form.

Kiba began to shout "can't you heal him like you did us?"

"My chakra can't heal this kind of wound! This would need surgery in order to heal!"

Gaara immediately unleashed his sand and swirled it around the surrounding rock until he had the amount that he needed. Despite the rain, he commanded the sand to lift Naruto and everyone else onto Sand platforms before they all began to fly back towards Konoha.

Hinata and Ino were at Naruto's sides panicking at the state he was in.

Naruto, despite the state he was in, opened one of his eyes and gave a grimacing smile "don't worry guys. I don't plan on dying here. Still have to eat my celebration ramen from my last mission."

Despite themselves, they all gave a small worried smile at how well he was taking having a hole in his chest.

* * *

~later, Orochimaru's lair~

Kabuto opened the door to one of the spare rooms that they had. "This will be your room for now. Lord Orochimaru is recovering at the moment so you will speak to him tomorrow. I have healed you to the best of my abilities so all you need now is to rest."

Sasuke didn't say anything as he walked in with his pack on his back. Once he heard the door close and looking to make sure that he was really alone he moved over to the beds on the far side of the room and placed his bag down. Reaching up to his forehead, he slowly pulled off his Hitai-ate before placing it on the table next to the bed. Opening his pack, he looked for the other item he had taken from his apartment. Finding it, he pulled it out and placed it above the Hitai-ate before whispering out "You better survive D….Naruto. I want a rematch when I bring my brother home."

Above his Konoha Hitai-ate, was the team 7 group photo.

"And next time I will prove to you and my brother that I am strong enough."

* * *

END OF CHAPTER 50 WHOO!

Surprise!

Anyone expecting that ending for this fight?

I wanted the rookies to actually watch the fight between the two so I had them follow Naruto instead of them all being crippled like in canon. Good thing I had Karin join the party. It was hard to come up with a reason for Sakura and Haku to go but I think it was ok. I would have put Tenten and Shino but I could not think of anything that would work and if I put them in it would seem so out of place. At least with Sakura being on their team, it would make a sort of sense and with Haku being her boyfriend, it works

The water gliding thing came to mind when I remembered Pain did something like that in his fight with Naruto. I just felt like using it earlier. I think of my version as the next level of water walking. I also hope you guys understand that Naruto has NOT mastered it yet as I put in a line that states that and a few clones were flying off.

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Not much I have to say about the chapter really as I think I made things clear enough in this chapter and previous chapters that had Sasuke in them.

Next chapter will have a few more things revealed so look forward to it.

I was notified about Ino knowing about Kakashi knowing about Naruto back in ch 34 so I changed the wording a bit to make it consistent.

to Guest: gracias por hacerme notar lo del ch 34

Please Read, Favorite, Follow, and Review


	51. The Real Mission

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech"**

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts' **

"**Jutsu name"**

(author comment)

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Beta read by: not yet beta'd

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

**Reviews Corner**

Before I get to the reviews, I want to clear something up that wasn't made clear in chapter 49. When Naruto came back to the group he wasn't in a henge he was shifted. That is why when he was hit, he didn't change back.

ArashiNokitsune: should be explained in this chapter

Otakumode: glad you liked the fight. Also about Naruto's heart, it's kind of one of those things that if not constantly brought up it's forgotten, but Naruto's heart was the very last thing of him that was organic. It's why he still felt some discomfort when he shifted. The bones were the second to last so now he is a COMPLETE bijuu

Shinigami Miroku: glad you found it satisfying. And actually I was referring to Kabuto still being alive since I had made it so anyone hit by Naruto's demonic chakra would suffer from it.

Autobot-Wolfsketch: here's the next chapter for ya

Dragon Man 180: this chapter might clear up some things with you

Bloody Rogue dragon deity king: it takes Naruto a few minutes now to shift into his fox form so and in the end, he doesn't have that kind of mastery over it…...yet

Robertroy1: well here is the next chapter for you

NeverEnderMan: welcome to my story and happy you are enjoying it. I felt like giving Sasuke a different reason for going to Orochimaru so I did this for him instead.

Thor94: the situation is similar to when Goku had Frieza on the ropes but was blindsided by a small ray gun. If you think about it, it makes sense. the shinobi use chakra to enhance their capabilities, including their endurance. The fight was over and Sasuke was beaten so NAruto essentially lowered his guard. In real life, we kind of have the same thing. If you tense up your muscles, you basically brace yourself for a hit, in doing so it hurts but not as much as it would if you didn't. Kind of the same principle

Kingkong101: I don't know what you are talking about since I'm pretty sure I made my Naruto stronger than in canon. Lets recap, Naruto was able to get the bells fro Kakashi by being clever and mastering a basic jutsu to the next level, Naruto is the reason they were able to beat Zabuza in their first encounter on the mission to wave, Naruto was able to cripple Orichimaru who is a damn SANNIN during the forest of death, it was thanks to Naruto informing Ibiki about Kabuto that they were able to stop the death of one of their own, Naruto had beaten Gaara in their match before Gaara unleashed his bijuu. Now for skills: Naruto has mastered the Kawarimi to a level beyond what it is normally used for, he can use the shadow clones without handsigns, he can do the Rasengan without the help of a clone, he knows his elemental chakra and is working on several skills on them, he made Chunin when he remained a genin in the entire show and even in Boruto and you call my version of naruto a pussy weakling who can't help anyone when he is the reason several people are alive. If you didn't like the fic why did you read all of it in the first place, unless you only read the first few chapters, hated it, went to the last chapter and left a review in which case you didn't read it at all and all you have done is waste both your and my time. So thanks for that.

Sorry readers for the rant on that last one but if all anyone is going to do is just say my fic is garbage, then they shouldn't even review or read it. Just find a story you actually like instead of just putting in hate.

* * *

Chapter 51: The real mission

Tsunade was rushing towards the hospital with Hana right behind her. She had received word that Naruto had received a fatal injury and was in a sealed-off room until she and Hana arrived.

"Do you think he is alright?"

Tsunade looked over her shoulder at Hana who had a worried look on her face "the gaki is too stubborn to die from an injury. Although I don't fully know what it is, he has been through a lot in his life so this should just be another thing to add to the list." she saw that Hana had relaxed a bit from her words but she herself was also worried. What she said was as much as for her as they were for Hana.

Arriving at the hospital, the two women made their way towards the room that they were told he was in. once they made it, they saw that the room was actually filled with everyone that was on this mission, officially and unofficially.

Everyone turned to them with most of them being slightly relieved that Tsunade had arrived

Kiba although, was confused "sis….what are you doing here?"

Hana looked to Tsunade as if asking "what should I say?" but Ino spoke up

"They know."

This caused the two women to look at her in shock before they looked at everyone

Everyone nodded as they understood what was said

Well everyone but two

Haku felt that there was something that he was missing as it seemed everyone was talking about something extremely important.

Sakura raised her hand and asked "um what exactly is everyone talking about?"

It took everyone from the mission to realize that although they themselves had seen Naruto as a large Fox, Sakura and Haku arrived after Naruto had left and they never got the chance to see him.

Kakashi looked to the two and said "it's something that the rest of the team discovered about NAruto during the mission. it is something that he alone has the authority to tell so until he deems you trustworthy enough, leave it be."

Sakura hated the fact that she was being left out of this but before she could say anything, she felt a hand on her shoulder. she looked to see it was Haku.

"Sakura-chan, Naruto-san will tell us when he is ready. please be patient."

She didn't like it but she chose to just nod. it was also apparent that at the moment, Naruto needed medical treatment. she would get answers from him when he was back on his feet.

Hana felt some trepidation but sighed as she answered her brother in words that kept the secret but portrayed the message "due to his... condition. I am here to make sure he is alright since Tsunade might miss some things that go beyond her expertise."

Tsunade made her way to the unconscious blonde as she asked Kakashi what the injury was

"Stab wound through the heart. The rain made it hard to tell how much blood he lost but based on the injury itself and the length of time it took to get back, I would say he lost a lot…. "

Tsunade looked the male blonde over and saw the hole. This made her grimace, seeing him in such a state but she shook off the feeling and get into a professional attitude. "Hana, I need you to evaluate him in case there is anything wrong."

Hana nodded her head as she moved to the other side of the bed and began to use her medical jutsu to scan Naruto's body.

Tsunade did the same on her side as she began to seal up the hole. As she was doing this, she noticed something that should be cause for concern. 'His circulatory system is disappearing!...but it's not causing anything to stop working….?' She had no clue what was going on inside Naruto's body but due to the fact that she was dealing with a human turned Bijuu, she knew she would be dealing with some things that are beyond her understanding since no one had ever really gotten to know how the tailed beasts work.

Everyone in the room watched as Tsunade and Hana worked on healing their friend. As the minutes passed, they all grew anxious as some of them began thinking that Tsunada or Hana would spontaneously say something was wrong

After fifteen minutes, both women pulled their hands away, which caused the rookies to shift anxiously at what she might say. What they didn't expect was what Tsunade did next

At the behest of her Hokage, Hana moved to the side and waited

Tsunade brought her foot up and kicked the blonde off the bed

"Tsunade!"

"Lady Hokage!"

Everyone panicked at how she had just kicked the injured blonde off the bed but the new voice caused them all to pause

"OW! What the hell was that for Baa-chan!"

Everyone saw Naruto getting up from the floor holding his head as he had hit it when he fell to the floor.

Tsunade loomed over Naruto who now looked like he was afraid for his life "do you have any idea WHAT YOU DID!"

Naruto thought about the question and answered honestly "uh came home, was told about the retrieval mission, went out to help my friends, beat Sasuke into the ground, got blindsided by a melting Kabuto and now I'm here getting kicked by you…?"

If Naruto had a shirt or jacket, Tsunade would have grabbed them and shake the ever-living daylights out of the smaller blonde. Tsunade was breathing heavily, wanting to strangle him till he was a blue fox instead of an orange one. "Everyone, MY OFFICE NOW!"

* * *

~Tsunade's office~

Everyone was standing in the Hokage office with the retrieval team and Suna nin standing in the back, while Ino, Hinata, Karin, Lee, and Naruto were in front of her desk. Kakashi was leaning against the wall waiting for the whole thing to start. Shizune was standing to the left of Tsunade and readying herself in case she needed to stop Tsunade from harming the ones in front of her.

Hiruzen was summoned to this meeting and was standing by Tusnade's right side.

Tsunade had already had a team of Anbu, escort the still unconscious Tayuya to the T&I department, where she would be restrained, have her chakra sealed, and curse mark blocked.

Tsunade looked over the five in front of her. She waved her hand, dismissing the Anbu, and did some hand signs to activate a privacy seal. "Do you have any idea how close you five were to ruining the mission?"

This caught the five off guard as they were unaware of what they could have done in order to ruin the mission. They figured that their presence would have aided the team.

Hinata nervously asked, "what do you mean Hokage-sama?"

"I meant exactly what I said. Your interference could have caused the mission to go straight to hell!"

Naruto stepped forward at this "now hold one! We went to help out the retrieval team in this mission. We were able to help them all and I was close to stopping Sasuke from getting away but in the end, he still got to Orochimaru…...although his reason is now different."

Tsunade sighed as she rubbed her forehead "the mission was a success."

This caught the five by surprise as Karin began "but Sasuke got away!"

"That was the point!"

now they were confused even more

Hiruzen continued from here "The mission was never to bring Sasuke back. That was a ruse we used to cover up the actual mission."

Ino tilted her head in confusion "than what was the mission?"

Tsunade leaned back in her chair as she spoke "we needed to make it look like we wanted to get Sasuke back or else it would be suspicious if we just let our last Uchiha go off to Orochimaru. Sasuke had come to me and the old man one day during the week….."

* * *

_~flashback~_

_Sasuke stood in front of Tsunade and Hiruzen telling them what had happened to him "...they had given me a week till they expect me to meet with them."_

_Tsunade and Hiruzen were thinking about what they were just told. _

_Tsunade looked to Hiruzen "what do you suppose we should do?"_

_Before Hiruzen could say anything, Sasuke spoke up_

"_Let me go with them."_

_Both adults turned to look at the Uchiha in shock. Before either could say anything, Sasuke continued_

"_My brother killed…...my entire clan in order to stop them from doing something that would have caused even more death to not only my clan but to the villagers as well. He made himself into a criminal for the village that he loved so much. He sacrificed everything in order to join an organization that poses a threat to Konoha so he could spy on them and send intel to you so you can keep this village safe. This could be used in the same manner." he sighed as he kept going "I join Orochimaru, in order to spy on him and send information to you on where he is or what he is planning. While I do this, I can get training from him in order to get strong enough."_

_Hiruzen had to ask "strong enough for what?"_

_Sasuke pulled off his hitai-ate and brushed his hand over the leaf symbol "...to bring my brother home."_

_Tsunade steepled her fingers "and why can't you get the strength here in Konoha?"_

_Sasuke looked her in the eye "I could potentially get it here but the most appropriate people that could get me the strength I need at a fast pace are you, Jiraiya and Hiruzen. The problem is that you Hokage-sama, are far too busy to spend all your time training me and your style just doest seem to suit me. Jiraiya would probably be the best choice but I rarely ever see him around and when I do he is either training Naruto or peeping on the hotsprings."_

_Tsunade felt her eye twitch at that last part 'I'm going to kill the pervert next time I see him.'_

"_The last would be the sandaime but he has only recently gotten into retirement. He has spent a lot of his time handling the village and all the problems they have. He should enjoy his retirement, relaxing rather than helping out someone like me. Orochimaru will spend most of his time trying to get me strong enough for him."_

_Tsunade quirked an eyebrow at the boy "you know what he intends to do so why would you go to him? For all you know, he might just take over your body the second you arrive."_

"_The way the four made the request seemed like they were giving me time to think about it but they also seemed to be desperate for me to come. I don't exactly know why but if I said I would go with them right then and there they would have just taken me as fast as possible."_

_Hiruzen rubbed his beard in thought "hmm from what I remember, Orochimaru was hit by Naruto-Kun's flames. He had told me once that his fire had corrosive attributes to them so anyone hit even a tiny bit could potentially burn away."_

_Tsunade remembered her encounter with the snake "that would explain why he came to me to see if I could heal him. He must be running out of options if he came to me instead of taking over someone else."_

_They both knew why Naruto's flames were corrosive but the boy in front of them did not need to know this._

_Tsunade continued "so if we wait the whole week before you are to meet them, they would be pressed for time. We could do something to stall them as much as possible."_

_Hiruzen nodded "yes. If we send a team after them, in the guise of bringing Sasuke back, we could slow them down long enough for Orochimaru to take on another vessel."_

_The blonde nodded "right. So here is what we do. I will send a team, sometime after you have left with the four. They will pursue them and if possible take them down…."_

* * *

~end of flashback~

"...and that was what the whole mission was. It was never to bring Sasuke back. It was to slow them down and if possible take them out. I would have sent some jonin or Chunin instead, but most of our forces are with their own missions so I had no choice but to send them The fact that we were actually able to capture one was a bonus for us."

Naruto, Karin, Ino, Hinata, and Lee were dumbfounded at what they had just heard. It made more sense of Sasuke ran off to get more power from Orochimaru but here they heard that he was doing this to spy on the snake for the village.

Naruto turned to the group behind him and asked "why didn't any of you tell me that was your mission?"

Shikamaru looked to his group and shrugged "probably because you surprised us so much that we forgot to tell you. I mean none of us ever expected you to show up, or even show up….like that."

Tsunade than had a question pop up in her head "how did you five find out about the mission anyway?"

Naruto and Hinata turned their heads towards Ino who began to look anywhere but at them.

Karin turned to glare at Lee who began to shuffle ever so slightly away from the redhead

Ino could feel the back of her head heat up from the glare she no doubt knew Naruto was giving her

"Ino…."

Ino slowly turned to him and sheepishly smile "yeah?"

Hinata asked "where did you hear about this?"

"um…..I heard it from some of the villagers as I was making some deliveries…."

Naruto's eye twitched at this. "Ino…...punishment number 9"

Ino began to panic at hearing this "wait! That's a new one!" she got in front of him and began to beg "please Naruto, number 8 was hell! What's 9?!"

"You'll find out when it happens."

Ino fell to her knees and cried anime tears

Karin was glaring at Lee who was a second away from running for his life….which he did

Lee was running towards the door, hoping to just jump over everyone but it was all in vain when a chain wrapped around his waist and pulled him back. He soon found his eyes locking on to the fires of anger that were in Karin's eyes

"Lee! I wouldn't be in this mess if you had just stayed in the hospital bed, where you should have been."

"Well, my friends needed my help so….."

Karin began to shake Lee with her chain "didn't you hear what she said! It was a ruse. They were meant to stall and if possible take them out. If things got too much they would have just left the fight and the mission would still have been completed!"

Naruto watched Karin shake Lee till the boy was dizzy but his eyes were on the chain coming out of Karins back 'hmmm…..'

Tsunade sighed at all the noise they were all making so she chose to end this. "ENOUGH!" seeing that she now had their attention she finished "now Naruto! I should take away your position as a Chunin for this…."

Naruto felt a bit of panic in him after hearing this

"However! Due to you stalling Sasuke-san, I will let this slide since because of your actions, not only did the team take out all of the enemy nin, we were able to capture one of them for interrogation."

Naruto sighed in relief at this

Tsunade turned to the other four "Karin, Hinata you two are also exempt from punishment since Karin had healed the rest of the team and Hinata was unaware of the real happenings."

Both girls smiled at this before bowing to her

"Ino and Lee, however! You both will be stuck at D-rank missions for a month with cut pay. With you two being called for every time Tora needs to be captured again! This will not happen again! AM! I! CLEAR!"

Everyone nodded as they winced in sympathy for Ino and Lee.

"Good now GET OUT!"

Everyone began to leave the office with NAruto be ing the last one out

Tsunade called for him before he left the room "Naruto one moment."

Naruto stopped at the door and moved back to stand in front of Tsunade "yeah?"

Kakashi was the one to speak "are you going to tell them?"

Naruto grew nervous at this as he knew what his sensei meant "I don't really have a choice. They saw me."

Hiruzen walked up to the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder "would you like some help on this?"

Naruto thought about it before he shook his head "no thanks. I'm going to have Ino and Hinata with me so I should be ok."

The three adults nodded at this with Tsunade adding one last thing

"oh by the way gaki. It's all ready for you." Tsunade handed him a small stack of papers that he took

He looked at them before smiling "perfect."

Kakashi was confused about what Nauto was given and asked "what are those for?"

Naruto gave a cheeky grin "you'll find out soon!" Naruto than ran out of the office, excited about starting

Tsunade sighed "why can't things ever being easy with that brat."

Hiruzen laughed at this "if it were easy, I wouldn't have as many grey hairs."

Tsunade chuckled before getting up "I need a drink."

Shizune glared at Tsunade "Lady Tsunade, you still have work to do!"

Tsunade's response was to make a familiar hand sign and make three clones of herself moved to get the work done.

Hiruzen glared at the clones before grumbling to himself "damn you Naruto."

* * *

End of chapter

Well, now you know. It was all a setup. Hope you guys weren't disappointed in this since there isn't much happening in it.

Next chapter will show what Naruto got from Tsunade and the return of a smaller character. Also, the talk between the rookies and Naruto might happen next chapter or the one after that s look forward to it

Please read, favorite, follow, and review.


	52. Tearing it down……

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

**"****Demon/Summon speech"**

**'****Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts' **

**"****Jutsu name"**

(author comment)

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Beta read by: not yet beta'd

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

**Reviews Corner**

To answer a few reviews about why Naruto was focused on Karin's chains. I'll answer it with a question of my own: why would one Uzumaki look at the technique another Uzumaki can use? ;)

Bloody Rogue dragon deity king: Naruto hasn't really thought about doing partial transformation as a way to attack. It's also due to the fact that he is trying to keep his actual status a secret. Sprouting a tail in front of Sasuke and Kabuto would raise suspicion. Sure his friends may have seen it but Kabuto is an enemy with Sasuke not really being a friend and Naruto didn't know Sasuke was still a ninja of the leaf. He thought he turned traitor

Autobot-Wolfsketch: felt he needed a different reason in my fic.

ArashiNokitsune: thanks for the thumbs up. Yeah he is going to have to

Dragon Man 180: I was more focused on the fight that I didn't think of that. You will find out soon :)

Thor94: hope you enjoy it

Kristinalprime23: glad you liked it

Guest: no it was never implemented but you will see it

Otakumode: glad you thought it was funny

* * *

Chapter 52: Tearing it down….

*BOOOOM*

"Mwahahahahaha! YES! THAT'S IT! DESTROY EVERYTHING YOU SEE HAHAHAHAHAHAHA."

*BOOOOM*

Panicked screams could be heard from the citizens as they all began to run away from the area, as building after building, got blasted, or destroyed by a horde of Naruto clones. One building was being blasted by flames, turning it into ash, another was being bombarded by **Rasengans**, another was covered in paper bombs, and another was being ripped apart by hand. All the while Naruto stood in the street with his hands spread out dramatically. You could even hear dramatic orchestral music playing

"That's right! Destroy! Dattebayo! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Don't you think you are going a bit too far?"

Naruto stopped his laughing and looked to his left at his personal fox summon Kira (large white fox) with his arms still up. "What do you mean?"

Kira sighed before she spoke "I think you are too much into this villain roleplaying." she moved her pay to a radio, hitting the off switch "you even have this music playing while you gave out your 'evil monologue'."

Naruto dropped his arms before laughing a bit "aw come on. It's all in good fun."

"Tell that to the people that ran away as if they were running for their lives."

Naruto looked around to see that there wasn't anyone else around. He shrugged his shoulders before looking back at her "it's better if they aren't here. It makes it easier for me."

Kira sat down next to him before sighing "why did you summon me anyway?"

Naruto smiled up at her "well I wanted you here to help me out ….when I finish anyway and it's nice to have someone to talk to."

"And yet here I sit, watching you act the fool."

Naruto sheepishly smiled at this "well it's still nice having you around really."

Kira smiled at this "well as long as you see me as good company."

Naruto nodded with his foxy grin on

"Hey what's the hold-up?!"

Both Kira and Naruto looked back to the radio to see Gamakichi sitting on it.

"It was just getting to the good part!"

Naruto nodded as he rubbed his hands together "right! Let's get back to it!"

Gamakichi hit the "ON" button for the radio as Naruto continued his evil laugh while "Ride of the Valkyries" played

"MWAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Kira could only shake her head in amusement at what her summoner was doing.

*BOOOM*

*BOOM*

* * *

~elsewhere~

Kurenai couldn't fully comprehend what she was looking at. Here she was sitting in the Dango shop across from one of her best friends, which was normal during their hangouts but it was the person across from her that was causing the bout of confusion. Across from her was Anko but she wasn't the same Anko she knew from before she left on her mission.

"Do you like it?"

"Mmm-hmm!"

Anko had a little girl sitting in her lap and feeding small bits of Dango to her. This was shocking itself but what Anko was wearing just added to it.

Anko would usually wear a long tan trench coat over a fishnet shirt that, at times, would be transparent enough to see the bra she wore if she chose to wear one, and even then the shirt fit her form so well that it was basically a second skin. For her lower half, she would wear an orange skirt that Kuranai would consider indecently short over fishnet shorts that would stop above her knee. Holding the skirt would be a double belt with a part of it going up to a hidden kunai pouch on the small of her back.

But now Anko's attire had changed. She still wore her signature trenchcoat but the fishnet shirt was replaced with a simple black shirt that was baggy enough to hide her figure. Her skirt and fishnet shorts were replaced with Anbu style pants with a kunai pouch tied to her left leg.

Kurenai knew Anko for years and not once was the woman ever afraid to show off her figure, which would cause guys and some girls to look at her with "wandering eyes". Heck, Anko would flaunt her good looks not only for laughs but as an interrogation tactic with some of the more perverted prisoners. Kurenai looked between Anko and the little girl sitting in said woman's lap several times before she saw the look Anko had on her face. The cocky confident woman wasn't here at the moment. Instead, Anko had the look of a caring elder sibling if not a…

That thought caused Kurenai to shake her head a bit. It just seemed so outlandish to think that but the sight in front of her could only show such a thing. However, what the little girl was wearing added to that final thought. She was wearing a similar outfit to Anko's original outfit with it being a Tan jacket over a white shirt and orange shorts. Taking a deep breath she spoke, "so who's this little one?"

Anko was finishing wiping off some food residue from the little girl's mouth before looking at her friend. She placed a hand on the little girls head "this is Asa. Naruto and I brought her back with us after our mission. We rescued her from some bad men and now she is living with me."

This was another shock to Kurenai but this just kept adding up to the thing in her mind. She smiled at Asa bringing up her hand to pat the little girl. "Nice to meet you Asa-chan. I'm Kurenai, a friend of Anko's."

Asa flinched ever so slightly at the touch Kurenai gave but she relaxed at hearing that the red-eyed woman was friends with Anko.

This did not go unnoticed by the two older females.

Anko placed a hand on Asa's shoulder as if to reassure her that everything was fine. She looked to her friend as she spoke "she is still a little jumpy around others. She is only really comfortable around me and Naruto."

At the sound of his name, Asa tilted her head back to look up at Anko "are we going to see Woofy again?"

Anko was about to respond when…

*BOOM*

Everyone in the shop looked out towards the village to see a large puff of smoke in the distance

Kurenai asked "what was that?"

Anko shook her head in the negative "I don't know…..but the alarm hasn't gone off alerting us of an attack."

"Do you think Lady Tsunade should be alerted to this?"

*BOOM*

Anko was about to say something but she then heard something heading their way

"aaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH"

Looking up the three saw an orange blur falling from the sky

Asa was unable to see what it was but Anko and Kurenai could and Anko relaxed at it.

Kurenai grew concerned about the falling Chunin and was about to jump in but was stopped by Anko

"It's ok."

"But ….!"

Before Kurenai could do anything, Naruto landed hard outside the Dangoshop but surprisingly, instead of making a crater, he caused a crack in the ground before he went up in smoke. Kurenai only looked in shock at what just happened

Anko leaned back in her seat "huh, wonder what the gaki is doing if that boom sent one of his clone flying."

Kurenai looked to Anko in confusion. "How can that have been a clone? The clone jutsu is merely an illusion. Unless….is he using an elemental clone? No, the clone went up in smoke which means that it was a shadow clone! "

Anko nodded "it's one of his signature moves. He doesn't really spam it but he knows how to use them."

"Was that woofy?"

Anko and Kurani looked to Asa who had a confused look on her face as she stared at where the clone landed

Anko asked "were you able to see him?"

Asa shook her head "no. but I saw orange."

Anko patted her on the head with a smile "yeah that was woofy. He's doing something right now so you will have to wait to see him again."

Asa puffed her cheeks as she pouted which caused both women to smile

Kurenai then gained a confused look as she heard them talk "why does she call him 'woofy'."

Anko looked to her friend and came up with a quick lie. She brought her hand up to her cheek "the whiskers. They make him look like a dog in Asa's eyes so she calls him woofy." she didn't like lying to her best friend but this was a secret that was not hers to tell.

*BOOOM*

"What is he doing anyway?"

* * *

~rooftop near Naruto~

On a roof across the street of the horde of Naruto clones were a pair of watchers who didn't really know what to do at the sight in front of them.

One of the watchers couldn't help but ask "should we….do something about this?"

The Anbu Neko stepped up next to him "no. I already received word from Lady Hokage that we should just let him do what he is doing. We should only interfere if he goes a little overboard. So relax, Hayate."

Hayate sweatdropped as he continued to watch the newly made Chunin continue his rampage on these buildings. "And this…" he gestured to the many destroyed buildings that were in front of them "isn't going overboard?"

Anbu also sweatdropped at this "...nope."

* * *

~next day~

Naruto was walking through the rubble of the destroyed buildings his clones had destroyed, with Kira walking with him. The previous day was spent destroying the buildings and they finally stopped when the sun had long since gone down. He was looking around thinking about what he was going to do with it but as he was walking a water pipe burst causing the water to spray upwards and drizzle on him and Kira.

Kira looked towards Naruto as she shook a bit "I thought you said you shut that down."

Naruto shook himself before running his hand through his hair "I did." he and Kira moved out of the sudden shower before shaking again and tried to dry themselves off

"HEY!"

Naruto and Kira looked behind them to see a man running towards them….or trying to since he was trying to get through all the debris.

Naruto recognized the man as the one he dealt with when he signed those papers. He waited for the man to get to him with a smile on his face.

The man finally got to Naruto only to pause at the sight of a large white fox glaring at him

Naruto turned his head to see Kira glaring at the man so he brought his hand up to calm her down. He moved towards the man who seemed to regain his nerves as he glared at the blonde

"What the hell are you doing her brat?!"

Naruto didn't lose his smile despite the hostility he felt from the man. He pointed at the ground "redecorating."

"REDECORATING! YOUR TRESPASSING ON PRIVATE PROPERTY! Wait till I tell the Hokage about this. She will have you executed for this!"

Naruto didn't know whether to laugh or facepalm at this. So all he did was blow a raspberry at the man "yeah right. Besides, I'm not the one trespassing."

"You little brat! When the owner of my house hears about this, he will have to Hokage string you up."

Naruto went into a faux thinking pose tapping his finger on his chin "new owner….new owner…..Oh! Do you mean" Naruto hinged into the form he used when meeting this man and smiled at him "this guy?"

The man had several thoughts come to his mind as he stood there in shock but it stuck to one solution "what did you do to him?"

Naruto undid his ****henge**** and chuckled "all I did was make him up."

"What?"

"The guy who you met wasn't real. I made him up when I chose to meet up with you when you were selling your property and land."

"Liar!"

Naruto couldn't help but roll his eyes at this. Reaching into his pouch he pulled out a scroll before unrolling it to show it was a storage scroll. Unsealing its contents to show a small stack of papers, he began to look through them before finding the one he was looking for. He pulled it out of the stack before shoving it into the man's face.

The man went wide-eyed as he recognized what it was. It was the deed to the plot of land that he had signed off to the man that came to him but the thing was that it didn't have the man's name. It had Naruto's.

Naruto couldn't stop his smile from growing "you never saw what was signed on the paper as you were excited about the new house you got on the other side of the high class living district. I was the man, you signed it off in my name and now I own this plot of land."

The man stood there with a dumb look on his face. He couldn't believe it. He had signed off his land to the "demon brat" and the document had been approved by the Hokage since he saw the Hokage stamp on the bottom of the document.

Naruto pulled the paper back and put it into the stack of papers. He turned back around to join with Kira who was sitting patiently for her summoner to return

The man continued to stand there for a few seconds before he snapped back to reality and shouted out again "you still destroyed property that wasn't yours!"

Naruto looked over his shoulder with the biggest smirk on his face. "Wrong. I destroyed property that _I_ _do_ own."

"Wha….!"

Naruto pulled out other papers from the stack in his arms. "This one is for the one next door," he pulled out another "this one, for the house behind your old house…" he pulled out a third "and this one is for the one, two houses down." he put the papers back in order before he pulled out his sealing scroll and sealing them away "anyway, I own this large piece of land and the Hokage had already made it official."

The man felt his brain malfunctioning now. He began to forget his biased anger and dumbly asked "what…..are you going to do with it?"

Naruto smirked at the man, not feeling like giving him an answer before he remembered something. He pulled out a scroll before walking up to the man. Naruto saw that the man was still out of it so he grabbed the man's hand and gave him the scroll. "That has some things that I found in the house. They looked like Niknaks and small stuff but I don't know if you forgot about them or something so here. Just have a random shinobi channel chakra into it to unseal the stuff." with that Naruto began to walk away leaving the man to just stand there

* * *

~elsewhere~

Several Naruto clones were all gathered around, each one reading from a book and one with a large piece of paper and pen.

"We should put that in the back. It makes more sense."

"You mean the south side?"

"I think he means on the east side."

"Wait….. Where is the gate going to be."

"It should be facing the street!"

"But what side?"

"Forget the gate! Where are we putting the training room?"

"Do we even have a layout for the whole thing!?"

All the Naruto's continued to bicker about things until it became a fight over where the Ramen storage should go and they dropped the books to the ground. The books were all about construction and building with two of them named "how to build a home" and "construction for dummies".

* * *

~a week later~

Naruto was bored. He had spent all his time in construction and now he needed something to do other than that. He had teams of shadow clones still building and reading about construction so that he could finally have a home.

At first, he was going to just buy one of the houses in the high-class district but then a small spiteful side of him felt the need to get back at some of the villagers. So why not start by getting a home that is far grander than what they have. The only thing greater than a high-class house is a clan compound but since there were no empty clan compounds other than the Uchiha's, which he and his father agreed not to even consider, he would build one. Thanks to his winnings he got at several casinos, in the village, and out of the village, he made enough to buy the amount of land needed.

"It's amazing how fast people will say 'yes' if you bring out a pile of money." Naruto mused to himself until he realized he arrived at his destination. A four-way street intersection. "Ok better get started." he removed his bracers and greaves before gently placing them on the ground. Reaching into his weapons pouch he grabbed a set of tags before he sent them flying in random directions.

Everyone around the intersection were looking at the boy in confusion at what he had just done. A lot of them were whispering among themselves about what the "Kyuubi brat" could be doing.

Once Naruto finished what he was doing he just sat down cross-legged in the middle of the intersection. "Let's see how long this goes." he waited for one of them to make the first move.

The villagers just glared at the boy sitting there as if he owned the street. Many of them remembered seeing the boy destroy several buildings in a part of the village and they began to believe that he was starting his attack. After a few men got together they began to approach the boy threateningly.

Naruto could only smile at them as they got closer. 'That was fast.' he watched them with his eyes flitting to them and then down to a spot on the ground 'just a little more an~d…..'

"Listen you little….!"

*POOF* *SPLAT*

The men were all hit by pies that were launched out of the tag Naruto placed on the ground. Naruto laughed at the sight of the men with pie on their faces "so that's what that one was HAHAHAHA." the tags he had thrown were unknown to him as he had shuffled a bunch of random tags that he took from his "prank stack". He didn't know which tag did what since he chose not to look at them so he would enjoy the surprise.

The men glared at the boy before they took another step. Only to be launched into the air by a torrent of water that burst from where they stepped

Naruto watched the men fly with whistle "*whistle* so they get messy and then get a bath. Hmm."

"The Kyuubi is attacking! Get him!"

Another group began to charge at Naruto who just sat there with a smile. Unfortunately, they also stepped on a tag that exploded in pink smoke

Naruto was rolling on the ground in laughter as he saw the second group covered in a pink substance. "So that's hahaha where the bubblegum tag was HAHAHA."

Some in the group were somehow put in odd positions. One pair were stuck together face to face that made it look like they were kissing and another pair, somehow, had one guy with his head on another guys ass.

This kept going with a group going to attack the boy, only to step on a prank tag and ending up in odd situations. Such as his classics, clothes swaps or removal, paint splattered on them, and some new ones such as unleashing spiders, snakes, and rats. Many of the tags with rubber ones…...and a few with real ones. A few more tags had glue that got them stuck to surfaces and he had a few genjutsu tags that made them begin to act like chickens, pigs, or cows. He was glad on reading that book on genjutsu and figuring out how to incorporate them into seal tags

* * *

~later~

"This just got sad."

Naruto had his eyes closed as he was now laying on his back with his arms behind his head and leg crossed over his propped up knee. This had been fun the first hour but after the second passed, it just got stupid. Not that he thought the pranks got boring, he still chuckled at them but it was more on the fact that the people STILL wanted to get him. "You would think they'd learn by now."

"Naruto-kun? What are you doing?"

Naruto opened his eyes to see the familiar face of an old man. He smiled at said old man "hey Jiji! Haven't seen you in a while."

Hiruzen chuckled as he looked down at the boy "well that's because you never visit me. I know I'm retired but that doesn't mean you can't hang around this old man."

Naruto got up to a sitting position facing Hiruzen "I thought you would want a break from all my craziness."

Hiruzen smiled at how considerate the blonde was to him "as long as you don't prank me than I wouldn't mind your company. By the way…." he looked around at all the chaos the citizens were in "...what is all this? Another pranking marathon?"

Naruto shook his head "Nah, I got bored working on my project over by the high-class district so I came here to relax a bit."

Hiruzen sweatdropped at how the boy "relaxed". "By the way, are you the one that caused all that loud noise in that district?" seeing the boy nod he asked another question "what are you doing over there anyway."

"I'm surprised you didn't find out already."

"I am retired. I do not have Anbu reporting directly to me anymore."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders "well why not come with me and check it out." he got up to his feet while dusting his pants off "I'm kinda done here so I might as well head back." he then began to walk back to the construction site

Hiruzen nodded his head as he began to follow the blonde. After a few steps he looked over his shoulder "should you not help them out of their…..predicament?"

"Nah. it should wear off in an hour or two and if not someone can get them out. They aren't really that stuck."

Hiruzen could only chuckle at that. No matter how badly the villagers had treated Naruto, he would never retaliate in an extremely harmful way.

* * *

~Omake, the 9 punishments~

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Ino stared in horror at what she was seeing. She had been mentally preparing herself for whatever punishment Naruto would come up with for number 9 but she didn't expect this although she should have based on a few of the previous ones.

Punishment 1: was simple. Something people would just find annoying. Naruto would just randomly take an item and hide it somewhere it shouldn't be. This included keys, notes, or semi-important papers. This was childish in her opinion

Punishment 2: was a little more annoying. He would take away wallets and money stashes for some time. Mainly when she wanted to go shopping. This got on her nerves but she could handle it.

Punishment 3: was an odd one. He would somehow sneak into her room and steal all of her left shoes. He even did it once when she was asleep and she didn't even notice he was there! She didn't understand why this was even a punishment. It just made the day difficult.

Punishment 4: he got her parents to do this one. She would get all the chores that other clan members were meant to do. She wasn't sure how he bribed her parents but she would figure it out one day

Punishment 5: she didn't know how he did it. But when she was out on a shopping spree and she saw a dress she wanted, she would go inside and ask for one in her size. Once the clerk would come back they would always say that they only have the dress or outfits in size XXXL. this usually made her eye twitch as she felt like there was a subtle fat comment in there. She swore that she would one day find where he put all the dresses he got.

Punishment 6: just embarrassed her. When she goes out into the village he somehow put in odd noisemakers in her sandals. Each day it would be a different one from squeaky noises that would get the attention of every canine she walked by to even fart noises that she tried her best to hide the fact that they were coming from her or rather her feet. During the academy, she found a way around this one by getting another pair from a store but recently even if she did this, the new pair would still make the noises. She had a feeling he was laughing at her nearby.

Punishment 7: made her grit her teeth. He would put in hair dye in her favorite shampoo that would change her hair color. The most annoying one was when she had pink hair for an entire week. She would use the **henge **to make herself look normal but she always felt exhausted at some point and would need to take a break. This was horrible during the academy when her chakra reserves were low.

Punishment 8: made her want to kill the blonde. All her outfits would suddenly be the different colors of the rainbow. All except her favorite color of purple violet. They were neon colors that would scream out "HERE I AM KILL ME!" much like Naruto's old jumpsuit….

Speaking of which. This was Punishment 9: everything. Every. Single. Article of clothing had been replaced…...with that monstrosity that Naruto used to wear but with a similarity to the previous punishment. They were different colors of the rainbow other than her favorite color, black, or white. Heck, the pajamas she wore to sleep were also one of those jumpsuits. She wanted to go out and immediately buy an outfit she could be seen in but the problem is that all she had were the jumpsuits. She would not dare go out in such a thing. She had gone through every drawer, box, and through her closet but all she could find were jumpsuits. There was only one way to go out and get another outfit. She tried to **henge **the one she was wearing for Pjs into her usual outfit but for some reason, she couldn't change it. Her chakra just wouldn't affect the clothes no matter how many times she tried. The only way she could go out was if she made herself completely naked and **henge **the outfit. This was something she would NOT do. She might have felt a little more protected if she could at least have a bathing suit or her panties and bra but she couldn't find them either. She made a promise to herself that she would kill her boyfriend the next time she saw him but right now all she was going to do was lock herself in her room until the punishment was over. She could only wish that it would end soon. But she would do one last thing before she started her mini hermit life "I'M GOING TO GET YOU NARUTO!

* * *

~with Naruto~

Naruto woke up to the scream coming from Ino. He smiled as he got the memories of the clone sent to begin the punishment "love you too, Ino." he closed his eyes again as he decided to get a few more Zs

* * *

End of Chapter

Hope you liked the chapter and the Omake. People asked about the punishment, I was originally going to make a chapter that had it but I could not think of a long enough section for it apart from what you just read. I was also going to put it in a later chapter but several of you have wondered about it so I put it here.

I was originally going to have Naruto just buy a house but I got the idea of him having a compound of his own but since there were no other compounds other than the Uchiha one, I thought "why not have Naruto build his own compound."

Also I wanted to add Asa into the story a bit more

Please Read, Favorite, Follow, and Review


	53. Truths revealed to the Rookies

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

**"****Demon/Summon speech"**

**'****Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts' **

**"****Jutsu name****"**

(author comment)

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Beta read by: not yet beta'd

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

**Reviews Corner**

DragonSensei: glad you enjoyed it

OtakuMode: I felt that naruto needed something good to happen for him after I put him through all he went through

Autobot-Wolfsketch: might add more of Asa. might make a chapter mostly about her

TempestHawke: tried to think of something that would be an appropriate punishment and came up with that.

Codathewizard: yes

Thor94: glad you thought it was enjoyable

Dragon Man 180: they might meet soon :) and yeah Naruto would have a Ramen storage room. It came to me randomly and I thought he needed to have one

Guest: it's kinda obvious that they are dead since they are no longer in the story. I didn see a purpose in actually putting in their execution since it would just be whining and begging for their lives. It would kind of be a useless scene in my opinion but to accurately answer your question, yes they were with Danzo and in turn ended up executed.

* * *

Chapter 53: Truths revealed to the Rookies

"You guys have any idea what Naruto wants with us?" was the question Kiba asked the others.

Right now every single one of the rookies, including Haku, were walking towards a location that Naruto had asked them to go to. He didn't ask them personally, he just left a note for each of them to have a specific day free from any missions or anything else so that they could all meet. It had been a couple of months since any of them had seen the blonde and they were all wondering what he had been doing for al this time.

Neji was the one to answer the question "I believe he now wishes to tell us about what we had seen during the retrieval mission."

This made most of them understand what that meant. However, Tenten, Shino, Sakura, and Haku were a little confused about what they were referring to.

Sakura grew a little confused about this since she was unsure about what they were referring to. She assumed that they referring to Naruto's healing factor that she had witnessed during the mission. (*1 read authors notes please)

Tenten placed her hands on her hips as she glared at everyone "what do you mean? What did you guys see during the mission."

Neji looked to her and spoke, "it will be explained when we get there." Neji than looked to Hinata "although, I am surprised that you are bringing Hanabi-sama with us."

Hanabi was indeed with them as she was holding on to Hinata's hand as they all walked

Hinata looked to Neji with a small guilty look on her face "Hanabi-chan had been wanting to see Naruto-kun again and when she heard that we were going to meet him, she asked to join."

Shikamaru looked behind him at the girl "yeah but this is an important meeting. Don't you think that he wouldn't want her to know?"

Hanabi, in an act of rare childishness, stuck her tongue out at the boy

Hinata shook her head "he cares for Hanabi-chan a lot. I think it would be nice if he knew that he didn't have to hide this from her either."

Lee brought his fist up "YES! WE SHALL ALL HEAR THE YOUTHFUL STORY ABOUT NARUTO AND HOW HE …...mmmph mmmmm."

Ino had slapped her hand over Lee's mouth to make him stop shouting out not only because he was being loud but the fact that they were in public and this wasn't something that they should be saying out here. "Lee! We know, so don't shout it out for everyone else."

Lee grew sheepish as he nodded

Karin sighed at how Lee had gotten more enthusiastic now that he is no longer confined to a hospital bed which meant he was no longer her problem. "Anyone know how much farther it is?"

Choji paused his eating as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. Looking at what was written he nodded "yeah, from what this says we should almost be there. The address should be around here somewhere."

Everyone looked around and they finally noticed where they were exactly.

Sakura gained a looked of confusion "arent we in the high-class district? Why would he want us to meet him here? Wouldn't it make more sense if we met him at his apartment?"

Ino looked to Sakura answering her last question "his apartment was destroyed during the invasion."

"So where has he been staying?"

Ino and Hinata sighed as Ino answered again "he told me and Hinata that he has been living in the Forest of Death."

Kiba couldn't help but find this somewhat funny "Makes a lot of sense to me heh heh."

*slap*

Kiba ended up getting slapped in the back of his head by Ino "ow what the hell was that for?"

Shikamaru couldn't help but sigh and shake his head "troublesome. He looked over Choji's shoulder to look at the address and looked around until he saw the address. His eyes widened when he saw it. "It's over there."

Everyone looked to where Shikamaru was looking and their eyes widened to the size of dish plates.

The extremely long, tall, wall that they had been walking past was in fact the wall to the very address they had been trying to find.

They looked up the large gate that was now in front of them and were astonished at it. They looked to their left and could barely see the end of it, the same to their right. The wall itself was 15ft tall with ornate tiles for its roofing. To all of them, it looked like one of the walls of the compounds.

Kiba was the one to break out of his shock first "what the hell is this? Since when is there another compound here!?"

Sakura asked the group "is this the Uchiha compound?"

Shino shook his head "no. the Uchiha compound is on the other side of the district and I do not see the Uchiha clan symbol on the wall."

Shikamaru shook off his shock "regardless, this is the place."

Tenten looked at the gate before asking "do we knock or just go in?"

Neji noticed that there was a note on the side of the gate frame. He pulled it off and saw that it had chibi fox in the top corner with the words "come in written in the center of the note. "I believe we are to go in." he showed everyone the note and they all agreed to enter.

Once they entered past the gate, they saw that an extremely large courtyard was between them and a large mansion that they all noticed was styled similar to the Hyuga buildings (Japanese style.)

One thing that the three Hyugas of the group had noticed was that….the compound was bigger than the Hyuga compound.

Neji couldn't help but wonder 'how could this compound have not been noticed before? The Hyuga compound itself is not that far from here." (based on ninja distance)

Kiba couldn't help but comment "damn this courtyard has plenty of room to train, don't it?"

*ARF*

Shikamaru looked to Kiba "well don't think about trying it. We don't know who this compound belongs to and we don't know how Naruto was able to get permission to use it for this meeting."

"Well, maybe I could ask them?"

Karin sighed as she looked up into the air as if asking Kami for patience "we are here for ONE thing only. Let's get that over with before you go off to make a fool of yourself."

Kiba slumped down as he growled under his breath.

They made it to the building and saw another note that had another chibi fox and an arrow on it. This made them all sweatdropped at how they would know where to go. They followed the directions of the arrows as they made their way deeper and deeper into the compound mansion. As they continued, they noticed several empty rooms that looked really spacious, like each room could hold five people comfortable, including their own stuff. They had also past several smaller courtyards, each spacious enough for a spar between three people at least. Several different roos could bee seen as well, Tea rooms, living rooms, storage rooms, and Choji's favorite a couple of kitchens. Something that caught their eyes was that there were many rooms that seemed to be under renovation but as they looked closer at them, they were actually under construction.

After a bit more walking they all started to get a little peeved at how long they had been exploring the place. That was until they made it int an open area inside the building.

They all could not help but gasp at what they saw. A large garden, with many different flowers and plants and at the far end was a Sakura tree. They all walked a stone pathway that led to the tree and as they got closer, they saw that just past a small koi pond was the one they were looking for.

Laying under the Sakura tree was Naruto in his fox form with his side facing them, tails swishing about leisurely and looking up at the falling petals.

Some of them could not help but think that it looked like something out of a fantasy story

Once they got closer, Naruto turned his head to look at them and could not help but smile at the shocked look they all had. "Hey everyone."

This got them out of their shock as they regained their senses.

However, Tenten, Haku, Sakura, Shino, and Hanabi just gained a more shocked look as the youngest asked. "...Naruto-nii?"

Naruto looked a the younger Hyuga with a smile as he felt no fear coming from her, just confusion "hey, Hanabi-chan." he looked to the rest of the group "glad you guys could come."

Ino huffed as she put her hands on her hips "you gave us the heads up weeks ago. Not like it would be hard to ask our senseis if we could have this specific day to ourselves."

Sakura looked at Ino incredulously "Ino-pig! How can you act like nothing is wrong when there is a large six tailed fox laying right in front of us and is talking like Naruto!?"

Shikamaru sighed as he moved forward and lowered himself onto the grass, before laying back and looking up to the sky. "Because this _is _Naruto. This is what we came here for. To get answers as to why he is like this."

Something clicked in Haku's mind as e remembered that day in the hospital "this is what you all discovered during that mission. You learned about Naruto looking like this."

Choji plopped don next to Shikamaru "yep *munch munch* we found out since he gave us all a ride during that mission. Thanks to him *munch* we all were able to get through our fights with less damage than we probably would ave had."

Tenten looked to Neji and Lee with an accusatory look "why didn't you tell me about this?"

Lee brought his hands up n surrender as he broke out into a nervous sweat "it would be unyouthful to tell another's secret, Tenten."

Tenten sighed in defeat as she sat down on the grass as well.

Sakura looked around to see everyone begin to sit on the grass. She was unsure of what to do until Haku grasped her hand and gently pulled her down to sit next to him.

Ino and Hinata, however, were still standing. They knew what Naruto was about to tell them and they knew that although it had been a while since it happened, Naruto still didn't like the memory. After looking at each other for a second they both moved over to Naruto.

Naruto watched as the two moved closer to him. He smiled as they both hugged him around his neck before they sat down next to him and leaned against his side as they looked at the rest of the group much like Naruto was.

This got several reactions from the group.

Sakura saw the way the two were with Naruto and she tried to think of why _both_ of them were sitting like that. She would have understood if it was Hinata or Ino but to have them both just didn't seem to click really in her mind

Kiba, on the other hand, got the gist of it immediately although not fully "what the hell!"

Naruto looked to Kiba and could feel the jealousy coming from the Inuzuka. The prankster side of him couldn't help but show itself "what's wrong Kiba? You look like you saw your life's greatest treasure."

Kiba stood up pointing dramatically at the fox "you….what….how…..when!"

Karin was once again asking for patience 'I'm surrounded by kids.' "can we get to the reason why we are here!"

Naruto couldn't help but stifle a laugh at how Kiba grumbled a bit at this and sat down. He was about to speak when he could still feel a bit of jealousy coming from one in the group. Looking at Hanabi, he could see that she was keeping her Hyuga face on but he could feel the jealousy coming from her. He then noticed that she wasn't really looking at him but his tails. To test this he moved one of his tails a bit further away from the rest and saw that her eyes followed it ever so slightly. He moved it a bot more teasingly before he chose to do something about it.

Hanabi squeaked a bit when she suddenly felt something fury wrap around her and pulled her into the air. She waved her arms around childishly before she found herself sitting next to Hinata and a tail was on her lap. After a minute of contemplation, she realized what happened and hmphed in the air as if she was better than sitting there. Her hands, however, began to pet the fluffy appendage much to the amusement of her sister and the large fox she was now leaning against.

Naruto, no longer feeling the jealousy from the little girl looked to the others. "So…..where do you want me to start?"

Haku smiled as he spoke, "why don't you just start from the very beginning?"

Naruto grew nervous as this was the moment of truth for him. This was something he didn't want to bring up with his friends since he was afraid of their reactions. But it was too late to turn back now and nothing he could think of could divert them from the truth now. "Well….it started on the day I was born…"

* * *

~Hokage Office~

Tsunade was having another drink of sake as she relaxed on the couch with Hiruzen across from her.

The old man could not help but twitch his eye at the fact that she was having a much easier time with the Hokage job than he was and it as all because Naruto gave her the key to paperwork. He sighed as he spoke to his student "so have you heard anything from Jiraiya?"

Tsunade let out a satisfied gasp as she put her sake cup down "he has sent in a report that says that the Akatsuki are beginning to focus on their monetary needs. They are taking more jobs now as if they have need of it for what they are after. The one that has been seen the most is the former Taki shinobi: Kakazu."

Hiruzen nodded "sounds to me that they are preparing for battle. The monetary need would mean they must need it for supplies and or resources."

"I want to say you are growing paranoid in your old age but from the fact that they are after the tailed beasts, they might be preparing to go to war over them."

"Do you know if they have acquired any of them yet?"

Tsunade shook her head "no. from what our sources indicate, they do not yet have any of them but they are preparing for it. This is concerning since it means that they might be coming for Naruto soon."

"Have you informed Naruto-kun about this?"

Tsunade took another swig of her sake "yeah. He was told about them some time ago by the pervert. He said that based on the relationship between the gaki and the fox, it would do us no good by keeping this a secret. Not to mention that already had an encounter with Itachi and Kisame of the mist."

Hiruzen nodded as he leaned back on the couch. "The boy has far too much on his shoulders."

Tsunade smiled at this "not as much as you think."

"Oh?"

Tsunade nodded "tell me honestly, what were your intentions with him when you were in the Hokage chair?"

Hiruzen pulled out his pipe as he began to smoke and seemed to age a few decades "as Hokage, I knew for a fact that we needed him in our shinobi forces. As the Jinchuriki of Konoha, he would have been an extremely useful asset."

"And now?"

Hiruzen smiled "I want him to do whatever it is he wants. As an old man, I would l have liked to see the boy do anything else he wanted. Work at Ichiraku's, work in the flower shop, a grocery store, or just even a delivery boy. He could have been anything he wanted to be but circumstances made him what he is and now he has become something that none of us ever wanted."

"And yet he doesn't seem to mind it really. He just has a fear of what those important to him think about it."

"Mm….. isn't he discussing it with them today?"

Tsunade nodded "yep. They are meeting him at his new place. Have you seen it yet? Cause he told me to wait till I can see it."

Hiruzen laughed hard at this. The idea was just something that Naruto would come up with. What better way to spite the villagers that caused his old life so much misery than to make a new compound that is larger than any other and have it all in his name. Hiruzen knew deep down that it was also a bit of spite against him as well since he was the one that got him that apartment but he couldn't be happier for the boy. Once he caught his breath he spoke to Tsunade with a big smile n his face "when you see it, you will know how far Naruto will go to get _subtle _payback."

* * *

~Later with Naruto~

"...and after I was healed, I was finally a complete Bijuu." Naruto had finished telling them all a shortened version of how he had become a bijuu himself. He sugar-coated it a bit for Hanabi, even if she figured it all out on her own, but the main points were there and everyone could understand what he had gone through.

No one knew how to take everything they had heard. They had just learned that one of their classmates and the strongest of them all had to go through much more than anyone had actually gone through. He had died in order to become more than human and feeling, actually feeling the hatred the whole village had for him every single day for twelve years would have made anyone else snap but from the years they had experienced with the boy showed that he was the strongest out of all of them not just in power but in character

Kiba couldn't hold it in "YOU DIED!"

"Yep."

"WHAT THE HELL!"

"Hard to believe isn't it?"

Several of them had thoughts going through their head after hearing the story

Neji thought back to their fight during the Chunin exams 'so that is why everyone had such hatred for him during our match. His will is much stronger than mine could ever be.'

Sakura thought back to the wave mission 'so that's why he always slept away from us and that power he showed must have been his demonic power. And I was terrible to him during the academy when he didn't deserve it.'

Naruto looked over all of them and could see various versions of shock and pity in their eyes. He would have hated being pitied but he was more relieved that none of them held fear or hatred towards him.

Shikamaru sighed as he just lay back on to the ground "your still the same troublesome blonde we had to deal with in the academy."

Choji went back to eating his chips "*munch* don't matter to e really. Since you and I still have to have our eating rematch. And if you can still enjoy good food with me than I'm fine with this."

Tenten shrugged "your still my friend so it's all ok with me."

Lee was crying with fire in his eyes "you are the most youthful friend anyone could ever ask for. In honor of your youthful journey, I will run around the walls of Konoha a hundred times and if I cannot do this I will….mmm"

Tenten unsealed some tape and put it over Lee's mouth. It was something that Naruto had told her to do once and although it works for a few minutes it's still a few minutes of peace

Sakura could see some trepidation in Naruto's eyes and knew that her teammate needed to know that they knew he was still the same prankster they are friends with. Looking to Haku who smiled at her and nodded his agreement. She leaned against him as she spoke "Naruto, we all still think that you are the same knucklehead we went to the academy with and that none of us are afraid of you."

Haku nodded with this statement

Naruto looked at everyone to see that they all agreed with this statement and he couldn't help but smile at them "thanks, everyone."

Ino smacked him on the top of his head "see, you didn't have to worry so much."

"Can you blame me? I usually get hate from everyone else in the village for holding the Kyuubi and not being close to being one."

Hinata got up and moved to the other side of Naruto's head and wrapped her arms around it. "You don't have to worry anymore Naruto-kun. We know you are still you." she placed a kiss on his head and tightened her hug

Ino got up and did the same on the opposite side of Hinata

Naruto couldn't help but smile at what his girlfriends did for him.

Sakura seeing this couldn't take it anymore "ok! What's with you three!? You are acting like you are all dating each other!"

Hinata buried her ace into Naruto's fur as Ino looked cheekily at Sakura "we are."

Most of them with Kiba and Sakura being the loudest shouted out "What!?"

Choji gained a question as he saw how the two acted with Naruto. "Hey who else knows about this?"

Naruto thought about who else had known about his Bijuu status. "Hiruzen-Jiji knew from the beginning, Kakashi kinda knew as well but he fully learned it during Wave. Teuchi and Ayame-Nee-chan know as well. Oh, Hana-nee-chan and Akamaru knew as well."

Kiba was now shocked even more "What!" he grabbed the pup from atop his head and brought him to his face "you knew and didn't tell me!?"

*arf*

"Why?!"

Naruto couldn't help but smirk "because I gave him a steak to keep quiet."

Akamaru remembered that steak and couldn't help but drool at how tasty it was.

Kiba began to shake Akamaru "you traitor. You were bribed by such a simple thing. When did you even figure it out anyway!?"

*arf arf*

Kiba paused as he heard what Akamaru said and looked to Naruto. His smile grew as he busted out laughing "you went to Hanato get a bath from her! HAHAHAHA"

Naruto was embarrassed by this and smiled sheepishly "hey it is kinda like a spa treatment for me. I mean come on look at me."

Everyone couldn't help but laugh at this but they all did it good-naturedly

"*sigh* troublesome. You guys shouldn't make so much noise. You don't know if the owner will allow such noise."

Naruto's smile grew from embarrassed to mischievous at this "I don't think he will."

Although he was chuckling a moment ago, Neji looked to Naruto with both an angered look at remembering that he was dating both Hinata and Ino and a quizzical at his statement "what makes you say that?" he did his best to hide his anger even if it was useless against someone that could feel negative emotions.

Naruto gained his foxy grin as he looked at them all "because I own this compound.

Everyone looked at him for a minute, with even Shikamaru bolting into a sitting position himself.

"WHAT!"

All the while Hanabi was just enjoying petting the fluffy tail that Naruto gave her earlier.

* * *

End of Chapter

I know there wasn't much on the interaction between the rookies and Naruto for his storytelling but it was obvious that they would already have accepted him since most of them already knew about it.

1: I realized a mistake that I made in chapter 51 and I have gone back and fixed this little tidbit. Sakura and Haku NEVER saw Naruto as a fox. Added a few lines in that chapter

Next chapter might have a tour of the compound and since the compound is still incomplete, I might a few more different rooms. Might also have Asa in it as well. But we will just have to wait and see

Also next few chapters or so will be chapters like this more or less. Fillers (although not the filler episodes from the anime) but hopefully entertaining ones before we get back to the main story event

Please Read, Favorite, Follow, and Review


	54. Small tour and a housewarming gift

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

"**Demon/Summon speech"**

'**Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts' **

"**Jutsu name**"

(author comment)

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Beta read by: not yet beta'd

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

**Reviews Corner**

Guest 1: I am not actually sure. Haven't thought about who he should be paired with but I'll leave it up to the readers for that one.

Otakumode: I'll have a chapter with Hanabi and her summons soon so I hope you look forward to it and I'm glad you liked the chapter

Guest 2: yes it would be more appropriate. Autocorrect changed it since Un-youthful isn't an actual word. I have gone back and fixed that little mistake

DragoonSensei: glad you liked it

Darth56: well here is more and hope it was soon enough :)

Bloody Rogue dragon deity king: the civilian council no longer exists. All civilian affairs are in the hands of the shinobi now. Though that doesn't mean the civilians are going to act civil now

Re Lovely Lover: actually that pairing wasn't planned. I just wanted to get Sakura out of the fangirl phase and when Haku came into the picture I got the idea of that pairing. Sorting that you don't like it

ZyiareHellsing: well here's more

JustLucky05: glad you like Hanabi's parts

TempestHawke: glad you enjoyed the story.

Kristinalprime23: I think that is the second time someone has called me an evil Genius in this story. Mwahahaha

Dragon Man 180: they might be meeting soon.

To guest who gave an actual review instead of hate: sorry you don't like it that much. Romance isn't really my forte so sorry if it seems clunky. Although you don't like it the story that much, thanks for an HONEST review and hope you find a story that is to your tastes

* * *

Chapter 54: Small tour and a housewarming gift

Naruto and the other rookies were no longer in the garden as Naruto decided to give them a tour of the new compound.

"How the heck did you get the funds to build this place?"

Naruto looked to Shikamaru who was the one that asked the question making sure that he didn't move too much since Hanabi was at the moment riding on his back while having one of his tails as a makeshift seatbelt. "Well, most of my missions pay from the missions I go on go unused since I was living in the forest of death since the Suna attack."

Karin sighed at hearing this "how can you even think about living in there? Most of us went through hell during the Chunin exams!"

Sakura nodded "yeah and even you were panicking when you were being chased by that giant snake."

Everyone looked at the fox in intrigue since none of them knew exactly what team 7 went through inside that forest.

Naruto continued forward, not looking at anyone as he spoke "Sakura, that snake wasn't part of the forest of death. That was a summon from the snake-teme. And as for how I could think about living there, I have spent a lot of my time there during our academy days. It was a good place to hunt without being overcharged for food."

Kiba chucked a bit "well that explains what you said to that crazy snake woman before we went in."

"You mean Anko-nee-chan. Yeah, she ran into me one time and thought she was the only one that used the forest as a playground. At one point we started to see who could steal the most food from the wildlife in there. She always won, until I started going as a fox."

Shikamaru noted this piece of info "so she knows about you?"

"Yep. she used to guard me when I shifted."

Everyone nodded as they really didn't want to hear more about his shifting since they grimaced at hearing it. They could only imagine how painful it was for him and they really didn't want to.

Naruto led them to a long hallway that had rooms that were finished "this is the area I made that is meant for anyone that wants to crash here for a bit."

Kiba poked his head inside one of the rooms and whistled in appreciation "damn this room is bigger than the one I have! Not fair!"

*ARF*

Everyone peaked into a room themselves and they couldn't help but be impressed. There wasn't much of a difference between them but they were furnished with a shelf, a desk, futon, and a large walk-in closet. Each room was a Japanese style, with tatami flooring and paper sliding doors.

Once they all went back to the hallway Tenten remembered something "hey you didn't tell us how you were able to pay for all this. You said that you use your mission money but I doubt you make enough for all this."

Naruto gained his foxy grin as he asked "any of you ever been to a casino before?"

Most of them shook their head as they didn't see a point.

Kiba was the only one who nodded "yeah. Went to the one close to my clan compound with my mom before. We went there for a bit of fun. Lost a lot of my money when I went."

"Have you seen it recently?"

Kiba thought about the lace before Akamaru barked at him *Aarf* "oh yeah. It was closed due to some incident."

Naruto nodded "yep! The reason it closed was because it no longer had any money to give anyone. They had to close for a bit because they needed to regain some of it so they could pay the people that won."

Shikamaru was beginning to put the pieces together but he wanted to get the most negative solution out of the way first "don't tell me you stole the money?"

Naruto shook his head "nope." he began walking again "I won all the money."

"WHAT!?" they all ran to catch up with him

"Yep. I have insane luck when it comes to gambling. During missions outside the village, I went to casinos and won a lot of money. I even go to casinos here to win as well. I think I'm banned from seven casinos in Konoha." his smile grew mischievous "not like that would stop me."

Ino slapped him in the back of the head "don't go bankrupting businesses on a whim."

"Ow"

He continued his tour until he reached a hatch that was on the other side of the mansion. He lifted the hatch to show that it was a set of crudely made stairs "this is the last thing to show you guys in this mansion." he used one of his tails to take Hanabi of his back, much to the little girl's ire, since the passageway was just big enough for him to walk through with his back just a few inches fro the ceiling. "Need to make this bigger."

Everyone followed Naruto through the downward but they couldn't really see where they were going since Naruto's tails were clumped behind him. After they walked down the stairs a good while they made it to a passageway that seemed just as cramped for the fox as the stairway was. They were at least happy that there were mining lights lining the walls. Once they saw Naruto reach a larger room they all finally saw what they were heading to. They saw that it was a massive dugout cavern with the flor being smooth out a bit.

Neji had to ask "what is this Naruto-san?"

Naruto sat down as Hanabi moved to his tails and plopped down to them. "I was planning on making a large underground training area. I still have to make this bigger since at the moment I think it only takes up like half of the mansion."

Lee shouted out in excitement "THIS IS THE MOST YOUTHFUL TRAINING AREA I HAVE EVER SEEN!" *seen seen seen*

Everyone waited for the echo to die down before one of them spoke

"You sure this is a good idea? To carve out all of this right under your mansion?"

Naruto looked up at the ceiling "yeah I thought it was a bad idea at first too when one of the rooms fell down here…."

Everyone paled at hearing this as they all began to feel nervous about causing a cave in.

"But I plan on reinforcing this whole room with concrete and support beams. I also plan on making some seals that will stabilize it so that there is less chance of that happening."

Everyone felt a bit of relief at hearing that.

Choji then asked "hey how big is this place?"

Naruto thought about this and answered "well I'm making it big enough so I could maybe summon the toad boss.

"How big is he?"

"About the same size as the Ichibi"

Choji whistled in amazement "you think I could come here sometime and train when it's done?"

Naruto nodded "sure. That's one of the reasons I showed this to you guys. I mean this place is huge so I thought maybe you guys would at some point come by and hang out or train."

Karin put her hands on her hips as she looked at him as if he was an idiot "well you made a massive place that will only have one occupant. Why not get a house, since it would make more sense?"

"I made it as a way of saying 'screw you' to the villagers that were always making my life harder. And I felt it would be nice in having a large place like this."

"So you just went with this on a whim?"

Naruto shrugged

Everyone sighed at this but they couldn't really say anything bad about it since they all thought that it was an amazing place for a clan.

Naruto got up as he made his way to the passageway with Hanabi holding on to one of his tails "come on. There is still more to show you." he moved his tail to drop Hanabi into Hinata's arms as they all made their way back to surface level.

Once the group made it they all realized how stuffy the lower level was

Sakura looked to Naruto with an irritated look "you should get some air circulation down there otherwise if someone were to train down there they might exhaust themselves too fast."

Naruto thought about it and nodded "I'll add it to the list of things I need to add." He then led them out the back of the mansion to show that there was much more land there and another large building just a few yards away.

Everyone couldn't help but deadpan at Naruto for the ludicrous amount of space he had.

Hinata, who let Hanabi go so she could ride on Naruto again asked "Naruto-kun what is in that building?"

"The bathhouse."

"...WHAT!?"

"Yeah, I once went to one and thought it was a lot better than my dingy bathroom so I chose to make one of my own. I'm not finished decorating it yet but it's usable."

Kiba got in Naruto's face and shouted "you have an entire compound to yourself and you have your own bathhouse. You could start a business with that there and make a killing!"

Naruto shrugged

"...can I move in with ya?"

Everyone besides Naruto and Hanabi, face faulted at this.

Naruto looked at Kiba before saying "you could sleep over some time but I doubt your mom would let you move in really."

Kiba thought about what was said and realized that Naruto was right. He grumbled to himself as Akamaru patted his head in sympathy.

After that, they went back inside the mansion into the living room, where Kiba once again shouted at Naruto for having a tv and tape player (VHS). they spent the rest of the day just talking and hanging out with some of the girls talking about what he could do to make the place look better. Well, mainly Ino and Sakura saying what he could do. When night fell everyone decided it was time to head home much to Hanabi's ire again since she was enjoying her time petting Naruto and treating him somewhat like an oversized pet.

Neji and Hinata could not help but smile at how childish the young Hyuga was becoming.

Naruto smiled at how the day went, with his friend accepting him as he was and that they thought his new living place was amazing. He didn't feel like he should do anything else for the day so he made himself some ramen and decided to call it a night. Heading to the master bedroom, which was several times the size of the other rooms, he looked it over and felt that something was off.

In the center of the room was a massive bed that could hold up to five of him. He wanted to go big for it. On the side of the bed was a pile of pillows that he bought in case he wanted to sleep on them instead. A dresser that had his clothes and a closet that held his ninja tools. What was off was that on the side of the bed just above the pile of pillows was a small table that he would use for whatever reason. The table itself wasn't the issue. It was what was on the table. He moved closer to it and was stunned by what was there. A picture inside a simple frame right above a scarf.

"That scarf was something your mother made for you before you were born."

Naruto didn't look back as he moved to the items and placed his paw on the scarf, making sure not to cut it with his claws. He looked from the scarf to the picture and asked "how did….?"

"You can thank the Kyuubi for that one. During the Chunin exams, Orochimaru summoned your father in order to give him an edge against me. Kyuubi, in quick thinking, was able to get Minato on our side and we drove him off. Before the jutsu that brought Minato back ended, Kyuubi asked for this action to be done. Fortunately, I had an Anbu retrieve a camera for me at a quick pace and he and Minato posed for this."

Naruto looked at the picture. It was of his father kneeling behind Naruto with a big smile on his face while the Naruto clone in the picture had his eyes closed with his usual foxy grin and giving a peace sign to the camera. It was a moment he never really got to experience since he never got to meet his father in the real world but this picture meant so much to him. Especially the words that were written at the bottom right corner.

"I'm proud of you my son! -Minato Namikaze, your father."

Naruto couldn't help the happy tears that fell from his eyes down his muzzle. He turned around and hugged his spontaneous visitor with as much strength as he could without hurting him as he whispered out "thank you Jiji!"

Hiruzen smiled as he hugged the fox boy back "your welcome Naruto-kun."

Nauto now had something from both his parents and it was thanks to two people that cared for him 'thank you Rama-tou-chan!'

**"****You're welcome Kit."**

* * *

End of chapter

This was brought up to my attention. SASUKE, who do you guys want him to be paired with since Sakura is no longer going to be paired with him.. Leave that in a review and I will consider them since I have other characters that could use a pairing.

So I gave Naruto a compound that is far bigger than one person should have but hey it's fanfic.

I never forgot about the picture that was insinuated back during the end of the Chunin exams arc. It's just that only now does he get that little bit as well as the scarf that Hiruzen apparently had in storage. Since Hiruzen is retired, I figured that he would actually have the time to go through his storage and find it to give it to the boy.

I'm thinking of having someone move in with Naruto but not sure if I should or not.

The lower level training room was something that I figured would be usable for secret training. The compound isn't finished yet so there is room to add more stuff.

Ok on a note away from this chapter. I am rewriting the first two chapters since I am kind of tired of hearing that the mob start is a weak start. I get it, it is an overused and bad opening trope but this was my first fic and I had no idea on how to start this. If ANYONE has ANY ideas that I could use for a better start let me know. Heck if you want to rewrite the damn chapters then go ahead, write it, send it to me, I give you credit and then we all live happily ever after -_-. So chapter 55 will take a bit longer till it's uploaded since I will be doing that. I was actually planning on doing this anyway, I just never got around to it

Sorry but I got a bunch of Pms telling me that the start was junk and a couple reviews saying the same thing. There were only a few that were actual criticism instead of a hate review.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Please read, favorite, follow, and review


	55. Starting to heal

"Normal speech"

'Normal thoughts'

**"****Demon/Summon speech"**

**'****Demon/Inner Sakura/Summon thoughts' **

**"****Jutsu name****"**

(author comment)

flashback/memory

~locations and transitions~

Beta read by: not yet beta'd

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

* * *

Before I get to the reviews I want to say that I have rewritten chapter 1, 3, and 4. Not any real changes I just changed the whole mob aspect into a different event. Chapter 1 is where it is most notable, chapter 3 and 4 are just some word changes to be consistent with the change. Thanks to everyone who gave me ideas. If you want, let me know what you think in a review

* * *

**Reviews Corner**

Otakumode: I love the idea you gave and I might use it

Bloody Rogue dragon deity king: it was meant to be "Lower level" but as it is written is pretty funny. Fixed it though

Guest 1: I love that idea and I will use it

ZyiareHellsing: glad you liked it. If you liked that you might like this

Entercreativenam: glad you were ok with the mob bit. I don't know what you meant by "meet a video with the Sharingan"

Zafnak: well in the show, Sasuke is actually living in an apartment like Naruto. Changed the mob attack into something I think is a little better but check it out and let me know

Masteria: kind of. I actually didn't connect the two until after I finished the chapter but yeah. The Uruhara's training area is a good way to think about it but without the sky and rocky terrain. It's at the moment just a big empty concrete room.

Kishi shirei-kan: :)

Tetsugo: glad you like it and yep this one ain't dying till it's done.I like your idea and I will use it in a later chapter

Innovaquantum: I might with Karin but I don't think Teuchi or Ayame would move in. they seem like the kind of people that would rather live the simple life in a simple home.

Dragon Man 180" :) . I don't know how I would but I might come up with something for that

TempestHawke: you might really like this chapter.

Ocomhdhain1: I could make that work but he might end up with someone else. We will see

Hellllloworld: here's an update

Guest 2: here's the next chapter

Kaiser Thanatos: glad you like it. Here is one of the next chapters

Yurihentai641: that's why gave him this motivation.

* * *

Chapter 55: Starting to heal

"Come on it's time to wake up now Asa."

Asa didn't wanna wake up as she just buried her face deeper into Anko's breasts."hrrmmm"

Anko looked down at the little girl that was sleeping on top of her. This is how they had been sleeping ever since she and Naruto brought the little girl back and had Asa stay with her. Ever since Asa came into her life she had to make changes in order to be a somewhat good role model for the little girl. This being one of them. She no longer slept in the nude. She had to buy a pair of conservative pajamas that she could wear and be comfortable. Speaking of buying she needed to get to work for the first time since she came back. "Come on Asa, if you get up and ready, we can get to woofy faster."

This piece of info woke up the little girl fast as she looked up at Anko with excitement in her eyes "really?"

Anko chuckled at how quick the little girl was to wake up at the nickname that she had given Naruto. Nodding, she patted Asa on the head gently "yep. Now come on, we need to get cleaned up and eat something so we can find Woofy."

Asa got off Anko and began tugging the woman by the hand as if she was the one taking her time waking up. "Come on come on!"

Anko couldn't help but smile at how Asa acted at times like this. "Ok, ok, I'm coming." she got p and let Asa drag her to the bathroom so they could brush their teeth and take a bath.

After Anko made sure that the little girl was clean and ready, she got dressed in a baggy shirt, pants, and trademark trench coat. She packed up two bags; One for Asa and one for herself. Once she saw that Asa was dressed in an outfit consisting of a white shirt, tan jacket, and a pair of orange shorts, that reminded her of her usual attire, she picked the little girl and left her apartment.

* * *

Anko was walking the streets of Konoha, with Asa in her arms, looking for the blonde-haired boy since she couldn't find him in his usual spot of Ichiraku or the training field. She needed to find him quickly so she could get to work fast. She was given time off so that she could take care of Asa but this caused several problems. Namely monetary problems. Since she hadn't been to work in a while, she wasn't paid at all. She was able to get by using the money she had saved up over the years but it was dwindling fast. This caused her plans to come to a halt. She had planned on finding a better place to live since the apartment she was in, was not meant for two people even if one of them is a little girl. With her money disappearing, she _had_ to get back to work, and to do this she needed to find the only other person that Asa was comfortable with. Speaking of Asa

Asa was burying her face into Anko's breasts as she trembled in fear at the abundance of people. On occasion, she would peak at where they were but at seeing others, she would bury her face again and grab Anko's coat to cover herself.

Anko felt both a little happy and sad at this little display. The sadness was because the little girl was still traumatized at the event and was afraid of everyone around her, while the happiness was because the little girl trusted her so much. It felt nice to have someone trust you to the point of seeking you out for protection but she hated the fact that Asa was like this. If this kept going Asa wouldn't be able to make any friends and start trusting people anymore. This was something that she needed to help Asa with but at the moment she didn't have time for that. She looked around hoping to see a speck of blonde and orange and fortunately, she saw him.

Naruto was on his way to the Hokage tower as he was called for a mission by the Hokage. He wasn't in a rush since the summon wasn't urgent so he assumed that it was a simple mission.

"Hey, Naruto!"

Naruto stopped when he heard his name being called and looked to his left to see Anko running towards him. He waited for her to approach him before giving a greeting "good morning Anko-nee-chan."

And the sound of his voice Asa peeked out of Anko's coat to see the boy "WOOFY!" she jumped out of Anko's arms and into Naruto's

Naruto's quick reflexes allowed him to catch the little girl "Woah! Asa-chan! It's been a while."

Asa looked up at his face with a cute pout before she hit him in the chest with her little fist "you meanie! You go away and not see me!"

Naruto chuckled at how cute the little girl was "sorry Asa-chan." he then looked to Anko who was smiling at them "so what's up Anko-nee-chan?"

Anko shook off her smile before she spoke "I need you to look after Asa for me while I head over to do my job."

Naruto tilted his head at this "why me? Can't you have someone else babysit?" he wasn't asking because although he wasn't fond of babysitting, this was someone he knew and would gladly do it. He was just confused at why he was the one being asked to do this

Anko shook her head "Asa doesn't trust anyone and is afraid of anyone she doesn't know. Out of this entire village, she only trusts you and me." she clamped her hands together as if praying as she begged, "I need you to watch her for me please!"

Naruto looked down at the little girl as he could feel the fear coming from the little girl and he saw that she was trembling a bit when a group of people walked past them. He rubbed her head a bit before looking at Anko "no problem. I was heading to the tower to report for a mission but I don't think Baa-chan will be too mad at me if I tell her that I won't be able to."

Anko lifted her head with a smile "great!" she then dug in her pocket to pull out a folded piece of paper before handing it to him. "Here."

Naruto took the piece of paper with his free hand as he lowered the little girl to the ground so he could open it and see what it is.

Asa hugged his leg and buried her face in his hip.

Naruto patted her on the head before opening the paper. It turned out to be a schedule

Anko began to speak when Naruto opened the piece of paper "it's a schedule for Asa during the day." she then began listing them off " she has her snack time at 11:45 AM. She has that in a little bag that's labeled with the time. After her snack, she will want to play with you. After that, she should be ready for a nap at 12:50 PM if not then she can play a bit more until she is ready for that nap. It should last about an hour. When she wakes up she will want to spend some time outside but don't take her somewhere too crowded. She likes the park across the street from 'a Wind's Market' over in district 4. Play with her so she isn't alone. She should be eating dinner at 5 PM and NO RAMEN!"

Naruto leaned back as Anko leaned into his face. He nodded his head to show he understood: No ramen.

Anko straightened up again as she continued "good. If you can't make dinner then you should order item 3 from the kid's menu from 'Yaki-Q'. Make sure she eats all her vegetables. If you let her watch TV then nothing heavy….speaking of which keep her away from all forms of weaponry. Also… "

Naruto stood there listening to Nako list off a few more things that weren't really on the list. '...she really has gotten into the mode of a mother.' Naruto couldn't help but smile at this since it looked like Anko was enjoying the role even if he knew that she hasn't really accepted it yet. At least as far as she knows.

After Anko finished giving Naruto the rundown on the dos and don'ts of taking care of Asa, she gave him the second bag she held and they went off towards where they needed to be. Naruto made a clone and sent it to the tower before he carried Asa back to his home.

* * *

~Anko~

Anko made it to the T&I building and walked past several of her coworkers who were surprised to see her back. She waved at everyone she passed as they said they were glad she was back since she was one of the best interrogators they had. She made it to Ibiki's office to see the man going over some confession papers.

Ibiki looked up from his work to see Anko and couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow at a few things. One of them being that she was back after asking for an undetermined amount of time off and the second was what she was wearing. "Should I be concerned about you being conservative in your attire?"

Anko looked down at herself before sighing "shove it scar-head. It's something I have to do."

Ibiki's ever so stoick expression changed into a small snowing smile on his face. "Oh I'm sure. Don't want to give the wrong impression to this person." he got up from his desk and moved over to a filing cabinet before looking for a specific file.

Anko gave a deadpan expression to the man's back "it ain't a guy."

"Oh I know. And I doubt you would ever go after someone so young and traumatized."

Anko's expression became one of shock as she tried to figure out how he knew.

Ibiki, without even turning to look at her spoke "you think I wouldn't find out what one of my best has been doing on her free time." he pulled out the vanilla folder he was looking for before turning to Anko "it's one of the reasons that I have not called you in when I have been dealing with an…..uncooperative prisoner." he brought the folder up to her for her to take "in fact from what I have heard and seen, she seems like she could turn out like you."

Anko took the folder before opening it to look at the contents "that's what I want to avoid." she looked at the information in the files before asking "who am I dealing with?"

Both Ibiki and Anko left the office and began making their way to the holding cells "her Name is Tayuya. She was brought in during the retrieval mission given to the rookies from the Chunin exams."

Anko remembered hearing about the mission. It happened during the mission she and Naruto were on and the gaki went after the retrieval team as unauthorized backup. She couldn't help but internally laugh at how he immediately went after his friends when he came back from a taxing mission. "So what's her deal and what should I be trying to get out of her?"

"She's one of Orochimaru's."

This caused her to pause for a minute before she continued walking

"We need you to get everything out of her. We need to know, base locations, prisoners, experiments, and anything else she might have."

Anko smirked at this "sounds like fun." she flipped to another page and saw a somewhat familiar drawing "...she has a curse mark…..!"

Ibiki stopped, which caused Anko to stop as well "yes. We have taken every single precaution with her. Her chakra is sealed, her curse mark as a suppressor on it and she is restrained from every limb. There will be a group of five shinobi in there with you as you do your job. Should she possibly escape the room, a barrier will be erected blocking anyone from leaving until the Hokage herself comes to take it down."

Anko nodded. She understood the contingencies since this was their only lead to the snake. "Alright, give me a few minutes before I get to work."

Ibiki nodded as he headed to the interrogation room that held Tayuya

* * *

Anko walked into the interrogation room holding Tayuya in her original attire of skirt and mesh shirt and short orange skirt.

"Oh great, I get a bitch this time."

Anko couldn't help but smile at the attitude the redhead had. This wasn't the first time that they had a mouthy prisoner. It actually made the job fun when they got anything out of them. "A bitch for a bitch. So…." She moved to the seat across Tayuya and sat in reverse. She leaned on the backrest and spoke "so you wanna tell little ol me about Orichimaru's little secrets. Tell me what he mumbles to himself? His skeletons in his closet? The color of his Thursday socks. Come one…..tell us his dirty little secrets."

Tayuya was a little confused about this approach. The previous interrogators were the typical hard asses, wannabe hardasses, and the goody goody nice cop. It was the typical shit that you would expect from movies. She couldn't help but laugh at their attempts. This woman's approach was like one of those stereotypical teen girls talking about boys and makeup. It was like this bit of info was simple gossip. She shook her head before glaring at the purple-haired woman "what makes you think I would give you shit? Your friends have tried for months! What makes you think you will get anything?!"

Anko's smile remained on her face as she got up from her seat and moved over to Tayuya. She harshly grabbed Tayuya's head and tilted it to the side.

Tayuya would have resisted but with her chakra sealed, she could only put in her own physical strength which wasn't much.

Anko hummed as she saw the mark on her neck "nasty little thing. Always annoyed the hell out of me."

Tayuya felt her head be released and looked at the woman with a bit of shock at that last bit. She saw the woman shift the collar of her coat to show a curse mark herself

"You have been stuck here for, as you say, months. If you are expecting him to come to your rescue then you are out of luck. If I had to guess, he would have you die before you give us any info but most likely the reason he hasn't used the mark to kill you is most likely the suppressor. But it could be another reason since I ain't a seal user." Anko sat back down in her seat as she crossed her legs and held her knee with her hands as she smiled at Tayuya "you're alive most likely because of us. Your usefulness towards the snake is no longer existent, so why not help us. We take him down and you are free to do whatever you want."

"Che, nice try but you Konoha scum would just kill me the second I give you anything."

"And why would we do that? Is that how Orochimaru handles things?"

Tayuya chose to not say anything

"Ah so it is how he does things. So if you think that we are the same then you know nothing about us. So come on, help us help you and all that." she said the last part nonchalantly.

Tayuya chose to spit at Anko who just leaned to the side dodging it.

Anko's smile went from somewhat friendly to sadistic in a second "oh good. I love it when they make things difficult." she got from her seat and moved behind Tayuya.

Tayuya turned her head to keep an eye on the woman. But her gaze went back to ahead of her when she heard a *thunk*. She saw that a kunai was thrown in between her legs a inch from her pussy. Before she could say anything she felt something slither on her shoulders and she froze at this since she knew what it was based on the hissing she heard. She heard the woman whisper right next to her ear.

"Please ….stay silent as long as you can. It makes my job all the more enjoyable and I'll Love breaking you."

* * *

"EEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKK!"

Some of the members of the T&I department stopped what they were doing and looked in the directions they heard the shriek

"Anko-sama must be back."

"Good. maybe she can get something out of that woman. I still have a mark from where she bit me."

"Well, that will teach ya from getting too close."

"...Shove it up your ass."

* * *

~Naruto's compound~

Naruto had made it to his compound and entered the main mansion before putting Asa down.

Asa finally looked at where she was and was surprised at the size of Naruto's home. "Woofy lives here?"

Naruto smiled as he nodded "yeah I live here. I built it myself."

"Wow."

Naruto laughed at the little girl looking around and began to walk further into the mansion. He moved to walk behind her to make sure she didn't go into rooms that were not finished yet. After a few minutes, they made it to Naruto's garden.

Asa began to walk around and look at all the pretty flowers.

Naruto smiled at the aw the little girl was in as she stopped at the koi pond and looking at the fish swim inside it. As he watched the girl reach into the water to see if she could catch one, he looked around his garden and gained an idea. He made a clone and sent it out to an area that held some of his construction supplies. "Hey Asa-chan!"

Asa looked at Naruto with the same look of aw

"Do you wanna swing under the Sakura tree?"

"Sa…..kra tree?"

Naruto chuckled at her mispronunciation "Sa-Kur-ra Tree." he pointed at the big tree at the end of the garden "the big tree with pink leaves."

Asa looked to where he was pointing and finally noticed the tree. She ran over to it and stood under it as she looked straight up at the pretty pink petals

Naruto walked up to be beside the little girl and smiled at her "do you wanna swing?"

Asa looked at him with confusion clear on her face "swing?"

Naruto immediately knew what the issue was with the question. She has never been on a swing before. He thought about the playground that Anko said they went to and remembered that they didn't have a swing set. He could help but smile at this as this will be her first experience. A thought came to his mind and he immediately made another clone that ran off to go get something just in time for his first clone to arrive with rope and a plank of wood. He nodded to the clone, who moved to the sakura tree and began setting up a swing on one of the thick branches.

Asa was confused to see multiple of the same person before pointing at the clone "more woofy!"

Naruto just couldn't help but smile at the innocent cuteness of Asa. "actually there is only one of me."

Asa looked from Naruto to the clone, to Naruto, and to the clone and at last at Naruto again. "Woofies!"

Naruto saw that the clone was done and dispelled it.

Asa looked back to where the clone was only to see it gone. She then found herself being picked up again by Naruto. She looked at Naruto and began to pout. "Woofy!"

Naruto could tell what she wanted from him but at the moment he wanted her to enjoy this. He sat her down on the swing seat before he knelt down to be eye level with her. "Ready?"

Asa still didn't know what they were about to do but she did know what she wanted right now. She gave a pouting glare at the blonde as she wanted him to change.

Naruto knew what she wanted and sighed as he knew she would keep up the pout "ok give me a minute. He made another clone, leaving it with the girl and he left to another room. He undressed himself and shifted to his fox form. After he finished he went back much to Asa's delight.

She got off the swing and ran to him before hugging his head "woofy!"

Naruto chuckled at Asa's behavior before he lifted his head with the girl still hanging on. "Ok Asa ready to try the swing?" he lowered his head so she could get off

Asa let go of Naruto's head and looked at the large fox with a curious look.

Naruto smiled as he used his tails to lift the girl up before placing her back on the swing. "Ok what you should do right now is hold on to these ropes here" he pointed at the ropes holding up the seat.

Asa grabbed hold of the ropes as Naruto told her to

Naruto then dispelled the human clone he left a minute ago and made a fox clone that moved to be in front of Asa. He moved behind the girl "Ok I'm going to push you gently so hold on to the ropes tightly.

Asa nodded and held on. It was only a second later that she felt a push on her back and she began to move forward and a little away from the ground. It felt odd to her to be moving this way but it wasn't a bad feeling. She soon found herself being pushed again and was a little higher.

Naruto started to gently push her so the swinging would be at a low high but he made them a bit higher as he kept going. After a few more swings he started to see the little girl begin to smile wider. It wasn't long until she began to laugh in glee at this. He made sure that it wasn't too high so that she wouldn't be too scared at this and if she was to somehow fall off, he and his clone would be able to catch her. Speaking of which, the clone he sent to get the item he needed had returned and started using it.

The clone was taking pictures of Asa enjoying the swing.

Naruto knew that if he didn't at least take a picture of this event, Anko would kill him. He also felt extremely happy that he was able to put this smile on Asa. she deserves to be happy after what had happened to her and her family and if he could give her happy memories, he would do it in a heartbeat.

The laugh the girl had just made his day and it wasn't even noon yet.

* * *

~Later, 12:05~

The two had spent the whole morning playing, mostly on the swing since Asa enjoyed this new activity. It was also when she learned that if she let go of the rope on the height of the swing, she would fly and land on soft fluffy tails.

Naruto felt his non-existent heart stop at that (he no longer has a heart since he is now a complete bijuu).

Now Asa was eating her snack which consisted of a banana, some apple slices, and some cheese and crackers.

Both were in the living with Asa eating on the couch with Naruto laying on the ground next to her. He would occasionally wipe her mouth as she would have crumbs or cheese on the side of her mouth but this was how they spent snack time. They didn't turn on the TV since Asa didn't notice it and was more focused on her snack.

"Naruto-Kun!"

"Nii-chan!"

Asa froze at the sound of people she didn't know. She jumped off the couch and hid herself in the only place she would feel safe

Naruto looked to the entrance of the living to see Hinata and Hanabi walking in. "hey Hinata-chan, Hanabi-chan! What are you two doing here?"

Hinata smiled at Naruto "we both had a free day and Hanabi-chan wanted to see you again."

Hanabi ran to Naruto and hugged his head "hi Naruto-Nii-Chan!"

"Eep!"

Hanabi and Hinata heard the noise and looked to where it came from.

It was at this time Hinata noticed the snacks that were on the glass coffee. One thing Naruto was famous for was his appetite and she knew that he wouldn't eat something like this and even if he did, it would be in massive portions.

Naruto looked at his tails that lay on the ground and sighed at this "Asa, it's ok. They won't hurt you I promise." the fear he could feel coming was disheartening and he moved his body around so he could be closer to Asa. he had to lengthen his tails so she could remain covered. He stuck his head in his tails so he could speak to Asa who was shivering in fear "Asa-chan."

All she did was whimper as she had one of his tails in her grasp.

"Asa-chan, it's woofy."

Asa opened her tearing eyes and looked at Naruto

Naruto spoke gently to the scared girl. "hey, I'm here. Nothing bad is going to happen ok."

"I want mommy."

Naruto hated seeing this. He hated that Asa was traumatized to this degree. He hated the bandits for doing this to someone as sweet as Asa. he hated himself for not being able to make it in time to save her family as well. He hated that he couldn't tell her that her mommy will be coming. He hated that he couldn't help her out of this much. He pressed his nose to hers as he continued in the soft tone "I know you do. I wish she was here too but she….isn't. But hey I'm here."

Asa was crying as she nodded

"And I won't hurt you ever right?"

Asa nodded

"And I wouldn't do anything to hurt you or do anything bad to you right?"

Asa nodded again

"You know I will protect you from anything bad like I did before."

Asa nodded once more

"Then let me tell you now, these two won't hurt you either. They are important to me and they are really nice too. I know that if you say 'hi' to them and get to know them, then you will also think they are important to you. They could be your friends."

Asa wiped her eyes as she spoke softly "stay with me."

Naruto nodded his head "if you ever need me, I will be there. So come on out please and meet them. Ok?"

Asa held on to the tail tighter but gave a very small nod

"Good girl." Naruto pulled his head out and got to his feet as he moved to stand behind Asa who was slowly getting to her feet but kept a hold of the tail and used it to hide from Hinata and Hanabi. Once Naruto was behind Asa he sat down and looked to the two Hyugas "Hinata-chan, Hanabi-chan, this…." he used the tail that had a black line on it to gently poke Asa in the back to have her take a step forward "...is Asa-chan. I'm watching her for the day." he leaned his head to be next to Asa's "say 'hi' Asa-chan"

Asa held tighter to the tail as she tried to peek past it only to shrink back behind it

"it's ok Asa-chan."

She felt a little more confident with Woofy with her. She slowly lowered the tail and looked at the two Hyugas. In a voice that was almost too quiet to hear she spoke "hi….I…...I'm Asa."

Hinata gently pulled Hanabi back to stand behind her as she could see the fear and uncertainty in the little girl. Hinata then moved a bit closer but at a distance so she wouldn't be too startle at her approach "hello Asa-chan. I'm Hinata Hyuga."

Asa began to calm down a bit at the gentle nature Hinata was exerting. She was startle a bit when Hanabi poked her head out from Hinata's shoulder

Hanabi was curious about the one that was hiding in her Nii-san's tails so she looked over her sisters to see who it was. To her surprise, it was a girl younger than her. She didn't know why she looked so afraid though so she tilted her head at the little jump Asa gave

Asa was startled at the sudden appearance of the other person but when she got a look at her. She couldn't help but say "dolly." to her Hanabi looked like a doll with her pristine completion, her long hair, and somewhat stoic expression. Asa relaxed at thinking this and smiled softly at the older girl.

Hinata giggled at her sister being called a doll. It wasn't the first time that Hanabi was called that since she herself had thought that at times Hanabi looked like a living doll.

Hanabi pouted at her sisters giggling. As she crossed her arms, "I am not a doll."

"Talking dolly."

Hanabi's cheeks grew a bit more as she gave a pouting glare at Asa.

Asa did not find the glare as intimidating. She thought it was funny and giggled at it

Naruto could feel the fear Asa had, slowly disappearing and smiled at the girl still holding his tail. He looked to Hinata and gave a grateful nod. It may not have been intentional but their visit seems to have been a very good thing.

* * *

~meanwhile, T&I~

Tayuya was on the ground, glaring up at Anko and twitching "I'm going to kill you, you bitch."

Anko merely looked down at her before she crouched to be closer to her "aw and I thought we were having fun. Maybe we should try something else?" she pulled out a syringe and flicked the needle a bit, "R&D said this would make you more talkative but they never used it before. Let's see the results….."

Tayuya felt a bit nervous at the approaching needle but she swore to herself that she would hold her tongue.

Anko, on the other hand, wanted to get this over with so she could get back to Asa

* * *

~Naruto's compound 3:45 PM~

Asa was chasing Hanabi around as they were right now playing tag with Asa being it. Hanabi would use her teachings to keep away from Asa more but since the younger couldn't use chakra she chose not to. And it was more fun this way.

Hinata was leaning against Naruto's side as they watched the younger two play out in the courtyard. She smiled at the fact that her little sister had made a friend. Hanabi never had much chance to go out and make friends and when she did, the other kids would be too scared of her since she was a Hyuga. "Why was Asa-chan so afraid of us earlier? She looked like she was petrified when we came in."

Naruto sighed as he thought about Asa's history "she went through a traumatic event before we brought her to the village."

Hinata looked into Naruto's eyes to see the sadness he had "it hurts you thinking about it, doesn't it?"

Naruto nodded. "It hurts me because I couldn't do anything to stop it. And what it did to Asa…." he sighed as he continued "it all happened just before the retrieval mission…" Naruto didn't have any problem telling Hinata about what happened since there wasn't a big secret to it. It was just another mission that had victims in it. He really hated those kinds of missions.

After hearing the story, Hinata had tears in her eyes as she felt terrible for the young girl. 'No one so young should go through that'

"And I'm glad that Asa has made a friend out of Hanabi. She needs friends to help her. Much like you and Ino have done for me."

Hinata tilted her head a bit in confusion at this.

"You and Ino were there when I was at the lowest points in my life. Sure the other rookies are my friends and help me too…. but I care about you and Ino much more than that. You two were always there when I needed a hand. You helped me when I first became a bijuu and became my first friend. And when your clan made you stay away from me Ino was there to pull me out of my sadness. You were there for me when Ino and I had that fight. The two of you had kept me from falling to my loneliness and became too important to me to lose. It hurt me so much when I thought I lost both of you during my fight with Gaara, but when I saw you both walk up to me after it… I was the happiest I have ever been. Losing someone hurts but seeing them come back when you know that they shouldn't….there is no feeling like it."

Hinata got up and wrapped her arms around Naruto's head "you won't ever lose us Naruto-Kun" she placed a kiss on his head "we will make sure of that."

Naruto smiled as he nodded "thanks Hinata-chan." he then looked to the inside of his house at a clock to see it was 4:05. "We should get back inside. It's almost time for Asa to eat."

Hinata let go of Naruto and stood up as he did the same. "What do you plan on doing for dinner?"

Naruto shrugged "I'm not much of a cook. Wilderness cooking I can do but I don't think that would be good for Asa-chan. I can make something simple though."

"I can help you if you like."

"You sure Hinata-chan?"

Hinata nodded "hai. Kaa-san taught me how to cook so I can make something for us."

Naruto smiled at her as he nodded "thanks Hinata-chan." he turned to look at the younger kids to see that Asa had caught Hanabi and they were in the middle of a tickle fight "Asa-chan! Hanabi-chan! Time to come inside."

Asa and Hanbi got back p and ran towards Naruto

Naruto knew what was about to happen and chose to just lower himself.

Once the girls got to him, they jumped onto his back, all the while giggling.

Naruto had gotten used to being used as a ride by these two since they kept asking him to do it. At this point he would just smile and go along with it.

The four then made their way towards the kitchen to begin preparations for dinner

* * *

~later~

Hinata and Naruto were in the kitchen cooking dinner as a clone of Naruto was with Hanabi and Asa who were in the living room, watching TV. The clone was laying on the floor not really paying attention to what they were watching since it was some kids show that didn't really grab his attention.

Hinata was stirring the pot as Naruto cut some vegetables for her to put in.

Naruto handed some cut potatoes to Hinata who placed them in "so what are you making?"

"I saw this is a cookbook once. It's a foreign dish that comes from the land of Iron. I think it was called…. Seco."

Naruto could smell the food cooking and couldn't help but drool a bit. "It smells delicious. Should I get the rice ready?"

Hinata nodded as she thought about what to do next for the dish "yes please."

Naruto went to get the rice to start cooking. He could not help but think to himself that he needed to get a look at the cookbook that Hinata had read to see if he could try and make this Seco himself.

* * *

~T&I~

The drug they used on Tayuya did indeed make her more talkative. In fact, they couldn't get her to shut up. The redhead had told all of her secrets, from the fact that she wet the bed until she was 7 to her sexual preferences.

Anko internally sighed as they got some info on Orochimaru but it wasn't enough. She knew there was more to it but they needed to keep going. She could tell that a bit more convincing and the girl would break. "ok. let's move on to one that you might actually enjoy…..though you might like it a little too much." she looked to the group of five that guarded the entrance and they nodded with the men leaving, leaving just three guards.

Tayuya promised herself that she would get back at the purple-haired woman when she got the chance. She was suddenly hoisted up and the shackles that covered her whole hand were pulled back until she was on the wall.

Anko moved forward and gave a smirk at the girl. "Well, we are going to try the most pleasant torture that we know."

Before Tayuya could ask what they meant, she looked at the woman before her clothes were shredded. She felt mortified at the fact that she was now naked. She crossed her legs and glared at the approaching woman.

"Don't worry….just be glad that it's me and not one of the men. Besides…..you prefer a woman's touch more than a man's."

Tayuya was now unsure if she should keep her mouth shut.

"Don't worry… I won't go far…."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH Ahn~"

* * *

~Naruto compound, 5:50~

Naruto was running for his life. 'How did it come to this!? It was all going fine until after dinner!' The meal was delicious and he wasn't the only one thinking that since everyone had a happy smile on their faces when they finished their meal. Sure he had to clean Asa up while she ate but it wasn't too bad. It wasn't until after dinner that things went south for him. Hinata had told him that Ino informed her about something that Naruto did. Something that he would deny for all time. They wanted to pet him to see if he would purr. Now he was hiding for all he was worth staying away from the three girls that had target-lock on him. He was glad that his mansion was massive enough for him to run around it and hide. He hid in one of the spare rooms' closet, listening to anything that would give away their location.

"Naruto-Kun."

Naruto bolted out of the closet as he screamed out in fear. He didn't know how she did it. But Hinata had this amazing ability in finding out where he was. He ran down the hallway trying to get away from the older Hyuga. "Gotta get away!"

"Nii-chan!" Hanabi landed on his back and held on to him

"Ah! No!" he shook himself a bit to try and get her off but Hanabi held firmly

"Woofy!" Asa came around a corner and ran as fast as she could towards Naruto. Once she was close to the wiggling fox, she latched onto his right front leg "gotcha."

Naruto looked down at the little girl and gained a gloomy aura as he knew that he was caught "aw man."

Hinata joined the group and looked to Naruto. "Please want to try it."

Naruto looked at Hinata and couldn't help but feel his defenses break and the shy nervous girl who was poking her fingers together. He looked away to Asa and felt his defenses crumble away as Hanabi had joined Asa in a hug and they were both doing the **puppy eye jutsu**. ' How does Asa even know that? Is it just a natural thing with all girls?!' he couldn't deny the pleading look coming from all three and after a few seconds he slumped and just sat down "...fine….."

The three cheered at this and Hinata moved forward to stand in front of Naruto.

Hinata lifted his head and smiled "it's ok Naruto-Kun. We won't tell anyone." she then began to run her fingers through the side of Naruto's muzzle. They roamed through his fur and began to scratch just above behind the ears and right below his cheek.

Naruto's eyes became half-lidded as he began to enjoy Hinata's soft hands. His defense was now gone and he closed his eyes in pleasure as he began to lean into her hand and purred. He could no longer hold himself up and soon laid down on the ground

Hanabi and Asa ran up and began to join in the petting, getting him on the other ear and chin.

Naruto was now in euphoric bliss and no longer cared if they heard his purr. If they weren't making fun of him then it was ok

* * *

~T&I~

Anko sighed as she walked through the hallway that led out of the building. The girl didn't even last long on that last method. Twenty seconds and she was ready to tell them whatever they wanted. Unfortunately, it wasn't much. The girl only gave info that they already knew about the curse mark and only a single location for a base that they were sure would be abandoned when they get there. She was happy, however, since this meant that her job for the day was done and she could get back to Asa. She had changed back into her conservative outfit before she left and she had the girls file with her so she could look over what they were told in case there was something they missed but now she only wanted to pick up Asa. "alright time to go." she began to rooftop towards Naruto's old apartment, not knowing that it no longer existed.

* * *

~Naruto's compound, 7:20~

"Oh no you don't! Come here!"

"Ah!"

*splash*

Hinata and Hanabi had gone home since it was getting late and bid the two goodbye with Hanabi giving Asa a hug and promising to come play again.

Now Naruto and Asa were in the bathhouse as Naruto was getting Asa clean.

The bathhouse was like the usual bathhouse, however, it was Massive in size and had no wall separating two areas. Naruto never thought of adding it since he was the only one living here. There were a few things that made it more unique than other bathhouses. One thing was that the bath was so massive that it could double as a massive pool. It had water fountains in the shape of the Kyuubi in a dynamic pose and roaring out the water. The walls were decorated with a design that looked like his mindscape. A moonlit forest with stars and in the center of the widest wall was the Kyuubi, sitting in front of the moon. These designs had made Kurama smile as it showed that Naruto was not ashamed of what he was.

Right now Naruto was doing his best to clean Asa, who kept trying to get away from him. She wasn't trying to get away because she hated it. She kept getting away so she could play. Naruto just used his tails to catch the sudsy girl and bring her back to sit in front of him so he could continue to wash her. "Close your eyes Asa-chan." he pulled up a bucket of water and got ready to pour off the suds on her

Asa closed her eyes and felt content at the warm water that was used to clean her.

Once they were both washed up they entered the warm water of the bath. Naruto kept Asa afloat with his tails as they both relaxed in the warm water.

They spent some time in the water until Naruto noticed the little girl he held was asleep. He smiled at Asa as he felt it was time for bed. He got out of the water and dried the girl off before placing her on a towel. He moved a bit away from her before he shook himself off. His fur became puffy until it went back to normal. He went to Asa and picked her up and dressed her in the Pajamas that were in the dressing room. Wrapping her up in his tails so she didn't get cold on the way to the mansion, he made his way back.

"ASA! NARUTO!"

Naruto recognized the voice and realized that she wouldn't be able to enter the barrier he set up. It was only tuned into the rookies, Hanabi, Tsunade, Shizune, Hiruzen, himself, and recently Asa. he made a clone and sent it to let Anko in. He was glad for his super hearing otherwise he might not have heard her. Naruto made it inside and was walking through the living room and towards the guest bedrooms when he caught Anko's scent.

Anko walked slowly inside next to the clone that was in his human form. Anko could not believe what she was seeing. She didn't know about Naruto no longer living in the apartment since she hasn't visited him in a while. When she went to the location of the apartment building, she was stunned to see that it was nothing but flat land. In a panic, she began to run around the village looking for Naruto and Asa but she had no luck. It wasn't until twenty minutes ago that she went to the Hokage to ask her where the boy lived. Once she got the address she bolted straight to it. Once she arrived she called out to them since she couldn't enter through the barrier. She was thankful that she didn't have to wait long when a Naruto clone opened it up and registered her so she could have access to the compound. She shook her head when she noticed the fox standing there with Asa sleeping in his tails. She moved quickly to look at the little girl and smiled at the peaceful sleep she was in.

"Hey, Anko-nee-chan."

Anko looked at Naruto before glaring at him. She would have shouted but she didn't want to wake Asa up so she whisper-shouted "why the heck didn't you tell me that you moved to this big compound! And when the heck was there a compound here?!" she had hoped that she wasn't heard by the little girl….unfortunately

Asa slowly opened her eyes and rubbed them a bit. Once her vision cleared she saw Anko standing there. She smiled as she jumped into Anko's arms, causing the woman to drop the file she was holding onto.

Anko smiled as she hugged Asa "I'm happy to see you too but you need to be asleep right now. Now come on, let's get your stuff so we can head home."

Naruto looked at the sleepy girl and gained an idea "why don't you stay here for the night?"

Anko looked at Naruto as if he said something unbelievable

"I mean, look at Asa. She is already falling asleep and it's already night. So you might as well use one of the spare rooms I have."

Anko looked down at the girl who was leaning on her leg, trying so hard to stay awake. She looked back up at Naruto with uncertainty in her eyes "are you sure?"

Naruto deadpanned at her "anko….I have more than enough room for you to crash here. So yeah….I'm sure."

Anko smiled as she picked Asa up, who snuggled into Anko's breasts, and smiled at the fox "thanks gaki."

Naruto made another clone that led the two to one of the spare rooms. As he watched them leave he was about to head off to get some sleep until he spotted the folder that Anko dropped. He picked it up and caught a glimpse of its contents. He saw that it was a file on the girl that they captured on the retrieval mission but his eyes were more focused on the drawing underneath her profile picture. It was the curse mark. He narrowed his eyes as he saw it.

* * *

~2 AM~

Anko was woken up by Asa to head to the bathroom. This was something else that she had to get used to since Asa was still afraid of going alone. Asa had finished her business and began to drag Anko by the hand but not towards the guestroom they were using. "Asa….."

Asa kept dragon Anko by the hand, half asleep not really hearing Anko calling out to her/

Anko was about to just pick the girl up and head back but she stopped when she saw they were heading into a beautiful garden. Anko couldn't help but think it was beautiful in the moonlight but what caught her attention was Naruto sleeping under a large Sakura tree.

Asa dragged Anko to Naruto and in her sleepwalking she lowered herself into the fox's side and pulled Anko down.

Anko whispered to Asa "Asa we should head back to the bedroom and let Naruto sleep." she found her balance lost when Asa just dropped down while still holding on to her. Anko fell to a seating position next to Asa and was worried about waking the fox up but soon found herself being covered by a few of Naruto's tails. She looked to Naruto's head to see that he was still sleeping.

Asa smiled as she hugged the tail that covered her and she leaned into Anko

Anko wasn't sure what to do but Asa seemed so content at the moment. 'Guess I will have to explain this to the gaki in the morning.' she was about to just close her eyes and get some more sleep until she heard something that woke her all the way up

"Goodnight mommy."

Anko was wide-eyed at what Asa just said. She had been called "mommy". Her out of all people was called that. Why were tears falling from her eyes? Why wasn't she scared at being called that? Why did her heart feel so light at the moment? The answer was simple. She was happy that Asa saw her as such. She smiled as she wrapped her arms around the little girl that came into her life "goodnight sweety."

Naruto smiled at this as he kept his eyes closed 'good for you…..both of you'

* * *

End of chapter

Well, there you go. Not much to say about this chapter since I feel that it's all clear.

The only issue I had with this chapter was the sexual torture bit. Originally it was much much longer but I felt uncomfortable about it. Torture is fine but I feel sexual torture like that just goes into hentai realm and I do not want that. I just couldn't think of any other interrogation method that Anko would use.

Seco is a peruvian dish that I find delicious

I have one pairing suggestion for Sasuke! Sasuke X Mei! Do I have any more suggestions or will this be who Sasuke ends up with? Whoever you suggest might end up with him but I do have plans for a select few

Please Read, Favorite, Follow, and Review


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